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HEROES OF THE NAVY 



IN AMERICA 



BY 

CHARLES MORRIS 

AUTHOR OF "historical TALES," "hALF-HOURS WITH 
AMERICAN AUTHORS," "hEROES OF THE ARMY," HE- 
ROES OF DISCOVERY," HEROES OF PROGRESS 



i6 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 



SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED 




PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT, I919. BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



0EC3I 19^5 



©CI.An6l2 97 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Jeremiah O'Brien and the bold Maine Haymakers... 9 
Nicholas Biddle, Commander of the First American 

Frigate 17 

John Paul Jones, America's most Famous Naval Hero 22 
Richard Dale, Paul Jones's " Right Arm of Strength " 45 
John Barry, the Irish Champion of the Delaware. .. 54 
Benedict Arnold and his bold Defence of Lake Cham- 
plain 65 

Samuel Tucker, the bold Mariner of Marblehead. ... 75 
Joshua Barney and the Capture of the " General 

Monk '' 84 

Thomas Truxton, Victor in the Naval War with 

France 94 

Edward Preble and the War with Tripoli 104 

William Bainbridge, a Naval Hero of Three Wars. ... 113 
Stephen Decatur and the Burning of the " Philadel- 
phia" 126 

Johnston Blakeley and the Careers of the " Enter- 
prise " AND THE " Wasp " 142 

Isaac Hull and how he Fought the "Old Ironsides" 153 

Jacob Jones and his Victory in a Hatteras Gale 166 

James Lawrence, who Died Saying, " Don't Give up 

the Ship " i74 

Charles Morris and the Cruise of the " Adams " 185 

David Porter and the Noble Defence of the " Essex " 195 

Oliver Hazard Perry, the Hero of Lake Erie 210 

Thomas Macdonough and the Struggle for Lake 

Champlain 226 

Samuel Chester Reid and the Defence of the " Gen- 
eral Armstrong " 239 



CONTENTS— Continued. 

PAGE 

Charles Stewart and the Final Victory of " Old 
Ironsides " 248 

Matthew Calbraith Perry and the Opening of Japan 261 

David Glasgow Farragut, America's first Great Admi- 
ral 273 

David Dixon Porter and the Opening of the Mississ- 
ippi 286 

William Barker Gushing and the Sinking of the 
" Albemarle " 294 

George Dewey and the Battle of Manila Bay 302 

Richmond Pearson Hobson and the Closing of San- 
tiago Harbor 312 

Sampson and Schley on the Trail of the Spanish Ships.. 321 

Vice- Admiral Sims and the American Navy in the World 
War 3.54 

Navies of the Under Sea and the Upper Air 342 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Thb " United States " Captures thb " Macedonian " 

From the engraving by S. Seymour of the 
painting by T. Birch. Frontispiece. 

The " Bonhomme Richard" and the " Serapis " 37 

Commodore John Barry 55 

From the portrait by Gilbert Stuart. 

The " Constellation " and the French Frigate 

"Vengeance " 102 

From a drawing by George Gibbs. 

The Danger of the "Intrepid" iii 

From a drawing by George Gibes. 

Decatur Boarding the Frigate "Philadelphia"., 130 

From a drawing by George Gibus. 

The "Constitution" Escaping from a British 

Fleet i 59 

From a drawing by Georgk Gibbs. 

Capture of the " Cyane " and the " Levant " by 

the " Constitution " 255 

From the lithograph of the painting by T. Birch. 

The "Mississippi's " Cutter Forcing its Way through 

the Japanese Boats 266 

From a lithograph by Heine & Brown published in 1855. 

Admiral Farragut Passing Fort Morgan Lashed 

to the Rigging of the "Hartford" 283 

From a drawing by George Gibbs. 

Commodore Dewey Annihilates the Spanish Fleet 

in Manila Bay 308 

From a drawing by Frank H. Schhll. 

The " Merrimac " Entering the Channel op San- 
tiago Harbor 316 

From a drawing by B. W. Clini dinst. 

Wreck of the Spanish Cruiser Almerante Oquendo. 330 

Submarine Arriving at Portsmouth in a Gale 336 

The Crew which made the First Transatlantic Flight 342 
The Ship which made the First Transatlantic Flight 346 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 

¥ ¥ ¥ 

JEREMIAH O'BRIEN AND THE HAY- 
MAKERS OF MACHIAS 

The history of naval events in the United States 
presents us, by way of preface, witli two rather amus- 
ing incidents, in which the colonists showed their 
detestation of King George 111. and his edicts in a 
contemptuous fashion. The first was that scene in 
Providence harbor in the early morning of June i8, 
1772, when a party of men disguised as Indians 
attacked the armed schooner " Gaspe " with paving 
stones for weapons, captured it and burned it to the 
water's edge. The second was that memorable event on 
the night of December 17, 1773, when another party 
of men in Indian garb boarded the tea-ship "Dart- 
mouth " in Boston harbor and flung her unwelcome 
cargo overboard to make a tea-party for the fishes. 

These were not naval events in the true sense. It 
was landlubbers that did the work. And, for that 
matter, it was landlubbers still who were the actors 
in the first scene of actual naval warfare in our coun- 
try's history — the bold haymakers of Maine and Jerry 
O'Brien, their gallant leader. We must tell this story, 
for it is in its way a notable one, as being the first in 
which the genuine Yankee spirit was shown upon the 
"briny deep." 

The 19th of April, 1775, had passed and the " Min*^ 

9 



lo HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ute Men " of New England were swarming in wrath 
around Boston, to avenge the patriots shot down on 
Lexington green. The tidings of tliis event spread 
rapidly in some quarters, slowly in others, and it was 
not until twenty days later that rum.ors of the tale of 
Lexington crept up to the little town of Machias, on 
the far nortliern coast of Maine. 

No proud port was Machias. A seaside village 
rather, its people mainly haymakers, for it lay amid 
grassy meadows beside its bay. But there were 
woodsmen among its population who knew how to 
swing an axe and bring down the giants of the Maine 
forests; and it had, no doubt, its share of men of the 
sea, for the ports of New England in those days were 
often busy scenes of ocean ventures. 

The people of Machias did not love King George. 
All the tall, straight trees in their woods were reserved 
to make masts for British ships, and no woodsman 
dared set axe to one of their giant pines for fear of 
seizure by the agents of the king. 

It was not to their liking, then, when, on a May 
morning in 1775, a small fleet sailed into their quiet 
harbor, consisting of the " Margaretta," a British 
armed schooner, and two sloops sent to get lumber for 
the fortifications at Boston. 

The news that war had broken out and that the 
" Minute Men " were in arms around Boston was like 
a torch to the patriot sons of Machias. They hastened 
to plant a liberty pole on the village green and were 
very ill-disposed to supply Captain Moore of the 
" Margaretta " with the lumber he demanded. As 
for his order to them to cut down their liberty pole 
and his threat to fire upon them if they did not, they 
heard these with defiance. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY ii 

There were bold souls in Machias, men more dis- 
posed to take than to give. Their fellows farther south 
were besieging Boston. Here lay a king's ship. Why 
not make a bold stroke for the cause by capturing it? 
A plot was quickly formed, a group of ardent patriots 
meeting in the woods near the town and laying plans 
for their daring enterprise. It was proposed to seize 
Captain Moore and his officers on Sunday when they 
were ashore attending the village church and then 
attack and capture their ship. 

Prominent among the conspirators were six stal- 
wart fellows named O'Brien, sons of an Irish resident 
of the town, and one of these in particular, a daring 
young colonist named Jeremiah, took a leading part 
in the events that followed. Messengers were sent to 
a neighboring settlement for help, every one was 
pledged to secrecy, and the plotters waited in excited 
anticipation for the coming Sunday. 

The looked-for day dawned. All seemed to go well. 
Captain Moore coming on shore to attend the village 
church, without a thought that men with arms occu- 
pied some of the seats, and that some bold fellows sat 
directly behind him, intent on his capture. But near 
by was an open window, the river was in plain view, 
and as the service went on he saw some men crossing 
it, muskets in hand. 

He knew the people to be in a dangerous mood. 
There were other suspicious movements on the shore. 
Evidently something was afoot. Quick to take alarm, 
he sprang from his seat, reached the window with a 
bound, leaped through, and was off for the beach 
almost before his foes in the church could leave their 
seats. 

His waiting boat quickly put him on board, and on 



12 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

reaching the deck he ordered some shots to be fired 
over the town to intimidate the people, numbers of 
whom were now hurrying to the water-side. Not 
Hking the looks of things ashore, Captain Moore had 
the anchor lifted and sailed several miles down the 
bay, where he came to anchor again under a high bank. 
It was not a safe place of shelter, for the townsfolk 
had followed him along the shore, and one of them 
called from the bank, bidding him to surrender and 
threatening to fire if he refused. 

" Fire and be hanged ! " was his defiant reply, and 
some shots were exchanged, but the anchor was soon 
raised again and the " Margaretta " ran out into the 
bay, where she was beyond the reach of the village 
conspirators. 

Here he seemed safe and the project at an end, but 
there were men in Machias of daring spirit, and the 
next day told a different tale. There lay the sloops 
in the harbor. Where a schooner could go a sloop 
could follow, and on Monday morning four of the 
venturesome young men of the town, moved by a 
sudden impulse, boarded one of the lumber vessels and 
took possession. 

Their easy feat was followed by three hearty cheers, 
which roused the people and brought a crowd of them 
to the wharf where the sloops lay. Foremost among 
them was Jerry O'Brien, " an athletic, gallant man," 
as tJie records say. On reaching the wharf he called 
to those on board : 

" What is in the wind ? " 

" We are going for the King's ship," answered 
Joseph Wheaton, one of the captors. " This craft 
can outsail her, and if we have men and guns enough 
we can take her." 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 13 

" My boys, we can do it ! " cried the bold Jerry, with 
an enthusiasm that sent the crowd off in a hurry in 
search of arms. 

A sorry show of arms they found with which to 
attack a vessel well supplied with cannon, for the 
" Margaretta " boasted four six-pounders and twenty 
swivels, each firing a one-pound ball. All the hay- 
makers could muster were twenty guns, with enough 
powder and shot to make three loads for each. One 
of these was a " wall piece," a musket too heavy to 
fire from the shoulder. The rest of their weapons con- 
sisted of thirteen pitchforks and twelve axes. Men 
were plenty, but only thirty-five were chosen, the most 
athletic of the throng. Among them were the half- 
dozen O'Brien brothers, and Jerry, a village leader in 
all matters that called for decision, was elected cap- 
tain. Setting sail on the " Unity," the sloop they had 
taken, away they went for the first naval battle of the 
Revolutionary War. 

Captain Moore saw his foes coming and apparently 
did not like their looks any too well, or had good rea- 
sons of his own for avoiding a fight, for he hastily 
got up anchor again and fairly ran away. His quick 
movement was no lucky one, for in going about the 
main-boom swung across so sharply that it struck the 
backstays and broke short oflf. 

This was an ugly accident for a runaway, but chance 
enabled the British captain to quickly replace the 
broken spar, for a merchant schooner lay near by at 
anchor. Laying the " Margaretta " beside this vessel, 
he made no ceremony in robbing it of its boom to 
replace his, and in a brief time was under sail again, 
heading for the open sea with a timidity that seemed 
strange under the circumstances, as his vessel was 



14 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

strong enough in cannon to make short work of the 
" Unity," if he had chosen to fight. 

Meanwhile time was passing and Captain O'Brien, 
with his amateur crew, was fast coming up. The 
sloop proved the better sailer of the two, and the last 
tack had brought it so close aboard that Captain 
Moore now cut adrift his boats in his eagerness to 
escape. For a British captain dealing with " rebels," 
he seemed strangely timid. Not until the " Unity " 
was within striking distance did he make up his mind 
to fight, showing the new spirit that animated him by 
firing a gun. This was followed by a broadside, but 
the guns were apparently badly aimed, for though one 
man fell dead, no other harm was done to vessel or 
crew. 

The eager patriots retorted with a volley of mus- 
ketry, the wall-piece being fired by a dead-shot moose- 
hunter of the backwoods, who aimed so truly that he 
picked off the man at the helm and sent everybody 
scurrying from the schooner's quarter-deck. 

Left to take care of herself, her helm swinging free, 
the schooner broached to, and in a moment more the 
sloop, then very close at hand, crashed into her. In 
an instant more the axemen and haymakers were 
tumbling over the rail and a hot affray was in prog- 
ress, the schooner's crew, with Captain Moore at their 
head, rushing up to repel the eager boarders. 

The killing of the helmsman and the boarding of the 
schooner had in an instant overcome all the superior- 
ity it possessed by virtue of its armament, and hand to 
hand the battle went on with such weapons as could be 
seized. With muskets, pitchtorks and axes the patriots 
shot, thrust and cut at the British crew, who fought 
valiantly with cutlasses, hand grenades, pistols, and 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 15 

boarding pikes, Captain Moore flinging grenades 
fiercely at his foes. But when a musket-ball stretched 
him dead upon the deck, his men lost heart and drew 
back, the Yankees poured hotly upon them, and in a 
minute more the " Margaretta " was theirs. 

The fight had been fast and furious, for twenty men, 
more than a fourth of all those engaged, were killed 
and wounded. Thus ended the haymakers' fight, the 
opening event in the ocean warfare of the Revolution. 
The " Margaretta " was greatly the stronger, in men, 
in guns, and the skill and training of captain and crew, 
yet she had been taken by a party of landsmen, with 
muskets against cannon and pitchforks against cut- 
lasses. It was a victory of which they could well be 
proud. 

This is not the end of the story of Jerry O'Brien, 
the hero of the haymakers' fight. He had now under 
him a fighting crew, cannon and ammunition, and 
before him the open ocean, offering prizes and glory 
to men of his mould. Taking in the " Margaretta," 
landing his prisoners, and shifting the cannon and 
small arms of the captured vessel to his swifter sloop, 
which he renamed the " Machias Liberty," he set sail 
on a privateering cruise, the first, so far as history 
tells us, in American annals. 

The British naval authorities, eager to punish 
O'Brien and his men for their daring act, soon gave 
them an opportunity to show their mettle. On hear- 
ing of what they doubtless considered his audacious 
presumption, they sent down two armed schooners, 
the " Diligence " and the " Tapanagouche," from Hali- 
fax to deal with the bold Yankee-Irishman. But Cap- 
tain O'Brien knew something about handling a ship, as 
he had already proved. By skilful movements he sue- 



i6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ceeded in separating the cruisers and then dashed on 
them one at a time in the bold manner in which he 
had dashed on the " Margaretta." As a result, he 
brought them both in as prizes to Watertown, Massa- 
chusetts, and handed them over to the colonial 
authorities. 

As may be imagined, the brave O'Brien, America's 
pioneer privateer captain, found a generous welcome 
awaiting him. Men of his calibre were wanted, and 
as soon as his vessels could be refitted he was sent 
to sea again, with three vessels under his command, 
commissioned to cruise for the British supply ships 
bound for Boston. 

We must deal briefly with the remaining career of 
the bold privateer of Machias. For a year and a half 
he cruised off the coast, taking a number of prizes. 
He finally took command of a new privateer, the 
" Hannibal," but in this he came to grief. While cruis- 
ing off New York he was chased by two frigates and 
captured, and for six dismal months lay a captive in 
the terrible " Jersey " prison ship. Afterwards, sent 
to England and confined in Mill prison, he escaped 
and made his way back to America. The war was now 
at an end, and the rest of his life was spent in peace- 
ful pursuits at Machias, where he died in 1818. Among 
the descendants of this Maine hero was the noted New 
Hampshire Senator, John P. Hale. 



NICHOLAS BIDDLE, CAPTAIN OF THE 
FIRST AMERICAN FRIGATE 

The Navy of the United States of America had its 
birthday on Friday, the 22d of December, 1775- 
Armed vessels were already afloat, bearing the rattle- 
snake flag" of the rebel colonies, and bold mariners like 
Jerry O'Brien and his haymaker crew were troubling 
the British upon the seas ; but it was not until this 
date that Congress took steps to organize a navy by 
the appointment of officers to command the small 
armed fleet then ready for use. 

Esek Hopkins, Esq., was made commander-in-chief 
of the fleet, a rank upon the waters the counterpart of 
that of Washington upon the land. Yet of him we 
can only say that he proved unsuited to the post of 
distinction given him and was soon removed from 
command. Four captains were chosen for the four 
ships in commission, Dudley Saltonstall being assigned 
to the " Alfred," Abraham Whipple to the " Colum- 
bus," John D. Hopkins to the " Cabot," and Nicholas 
Biddle to the " Andrea Doria." Of the lieutenants 
chosen there was only one who attained to fame, the 
immortal John Paul Jones. Captain Abraham Whip- 
ple, tradition tells us, had commanded the paving- 
stone captors of the " Gaspe," but Captain Biddle alone 
won a heroic place in the later sea history of the war. 

Born in Philadelphia in 1750, Nicholas Biddle gravi- 
tated to the sea, entered the British navy at the age of 
twenty, and had the honor of serving with the future 
Lord Nelson, then, like him, a boy. He came back 
2 17 



i8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

to his native land when it struck for hberty, and owed 
to his naval experience his appointment to the " Andrea 
Doria." 

This was a brig, named for the famous Genoese 
sailor, and, like the " Cabot," was armed with fourteen 
four-pounders. The " Alfred " and " Columbus " were 
ships carrying nine-pounders. Such was the insig- 
nificant squadron with which the proud American 
Navy began its career. 

The first naval battle was fought on April 6, 1776, 
on which day Commander Hopkins and his ships came 
suddenly upon the " Glasgow," a well-armed British 
sloop-of-war. The " Glasgow " was ably handled, its 
captain alert, its crew well trained, and though over- 
matched by his opponents, its captain knew his business 
far better than they, fought them briskly for an hour 
or two, and sailed away when the unequal contest grew 
too hot. In this sharp but brief fight Captain Biddle 
took an active part, though the British captain won 
what little credit was gained. 

It need only be said further of this first naval battle 
by an American fleet, that there was no lack of valor 
shown, but much lack of skill, and of its captains Nich- 
olas Biddle was the only one who afterwards showed 
himself a hero of the waves. After refitting his vessel, 
he put to sea again on May 16, and for four months 
cruised between the capes of the Delaware and the 
Maine coast, picking up prizes at a satisfying rate. In 
all, he captured ten vessels, one of which was retaken, 
the others reaching port in safety. When he at length 
followed them into port only five of his original crew 
remained. All the rest had been sent away in prizes 
and replaced by volunteers from the captured craft. 

Short, however, were the careers of Captain Biddle 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 19 

and his little brig. Both came to disastrous ends, but 
neither before they had made their mark. The 
" Andrea Doria " was the American champion in the 
first even sea-fight of the Revolution — though not 
under her original captain. Captain Isaiah Robinson 
was now in command, this being his reward for cap- 
turing, on July 6, 1776, two days after independence 
was declared, with the sloop " Sachem," a British ves- 
sel of four guns. 

In the " Andrea Doria " he was sent to the Dutch 
port of St. Eustatius to get arms and ammunition for 
the American navy, and here had the honor of receiv- 
ing a salute from the governor of the port — the first 
salute given to the flag of the young Republic. The 
compliment did not please the British government, 
for complaint was made and the oflfending Dutch gov- 
ernor lost his post. 

On his way home Captain Robinson had his fight. 
Wlien off the west end of Porto Rico he met with the 
British brig " Racehorse," which had been sent out 
to intercept him, and for two hours those tropical 
waters echoed to the roar of guns, as the first square 
fight between a British and an American warship took 
place. The " Andrea Doria " lost four killed and eight 
wounded in the battle, the " Racehorse " losing consid- 
erably more, among them her commander, Lieutenant 
Jones, who fell with a mortal wound. On his fall the 
crew surrendered and Captain Robinson brought his 
prize safely to port at Philadelphia. This was her final 
cruise, for that city was soon after taken by the enemy 
and the gallant little brig was burned to save her from 
falling into their hands. 

The fate of Captain Biddle was more heroic than 
that of the " Andrea Doria." Of him it has been said 



20 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

that " Liberty never had a more heroic defender," and 
he certainly went down in a blaze of glory. The repu- 
tation gained by him in his first command brought him 
the captaincy of the " Randolph," the first completed 
of the squadron of thirty-two-gun frigates ordered 
by Congress in 1775. 

In this new craft he sailed from Philadelphia in 
February, 1777. When off Cape Hatteras the masts 
of the " Randolph " were sprung in a gale, and he had 
to put into Charleston for repairs. On sailing again 
he showed his skill and activity by bringing in six 
prizes within a week, one of them a twenty-gun ship 
called the " True Briton." He did not go out again 
that year, for a blockading fleet held him locked up 
in Charleston harbor until March, 1778. 

During his detention the state of South Carolina, 
inspired by his success, fitted out four cruisers, carry- 
ing in all sixty-four guns. When these were ready Cap- 
tain Biddle took them out to try conclusions with the 
blockading fleet, but it did not wait for him. Finding 
the coast clear, he sailed south to the Caribbean Sea, 
and in its waters, on the 7th of March, 1778, came to 
the final event in his career. 

Cruising with his little squadron eastward of the 
island of Barbadoes, he fell in on that day with a 
great British man-of-war, the ship-of-the-line " Yar- 
mouth," Captain Vincent. Biddle could have nm away 
with credit to himself, for the " Yarmouth " was a 
much larger and stronger vessel and carried twice 
his number of guns, all of greater calibre. His 
consorts, the South Carolina cruisers, were of no 
use, for their guns were too light to pierce the stout 
hull of the British ship, so he signalled them to run 
for safety. As for himself, flight was out of the ques- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 21 

tion, even if it had been in his thoughts, and he ranged 
up boldly to meet his powerful antagonist, despite the 
fact that he was like a game-cock defying an eagle. 

Yet for all their disparity in strength, the " Ran- 
dolph," with her thirty-two small guns, for a full hour 
held her own against the " Yarmouth," with her sixty- 
four large ones, fighting broadside to broadside. The 
gallant Biddle was wounded, but he would not let his 
men carry him below, and lay directing the fight from 
his quarter-deck. 

While thus engaged the catastrophe that was to end 
his career came. In some way the powder in the 
" Randolph's " magazine took fire, and the good ship 
was fairly blown out of the water, her sides rent and 
torn and fragments flying in all directions. Some of 
them fell flaming on the deck of the " Yarmouth," 
while an American flag, rolled up so as to be ready 
to replace the one flying if it should be shot away, 
came down unsinged on the forecastle. 

The men on board the "Randolph," 315 in all, 
appeared to have shared the fate of their ship and com- 
mander, and Captain Vincent, supposing that they had 
all perished, set out in pursuit of the four fleeing 
cruisers. But he had suffered too severely in the fight 
to overtake them, and on March 12, five days later, 
returning to the same waters, he found a piece 
of the " Randolph " still afloat, with four men upon it. 
These, the sole survivors, were rescued. The loss of 
the " Yarmouth " in the battle was five men killed and 
twelve wounded. 

Thus perished, in an unequal and a supremely 
daring contest, one of the most gallant among the naval 
heroes of the Revolution. 



JOHN PAUL JONES, AMERICA'S MOST 
FAMOUS NAVAL HERO 

The 14th of June, 1777, is notable in our annals as 
the date on which Congress adopted the Stars and 
Stripes as the flag of the new Union. It is also notable 
in our naval history, for on that day Captain John Paul 
Jones, the most famous of our naval heroes, was 
appointed to the command of the eighteen-gun ship 
" Ranger." The two events were brought together 
when Jones reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 
where his ship lay, for he hoisted with his own hands 
the newly-chosen flag to her peak, this being the first 
occasion in which " Old Glory " was flung to the breeze 
on a ship of the American Navy. 

Glorious as he made himself in American naval his- 
tory, John Paul Jones was not a native of our soil, but 
was born in 1747 on the estate of Arbigland, in 
Scotland. His father was a gardener named John 
Paul, and this was the name borne by the boy in his 
early life. At twelve years of age he was placed in a 
store at Whitehaven, an English seaport town, and here 
the lad took a fancy to the sea and learned all he could 
about ships and sea life. He grew so eager to try it 
for himself that at thirteen he was put as a sailor boy 
on the " Friendship," a ship bound to Virginia for a 
cargo of tobacco. 

For a number of years the youthful adventurer 
served as a sailor, but an ocean event made him a 
captain before he was twenty years of age. A fever 
broke out on the ship when in mid-Atlantic, carrying 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 23 

off the captain, the mate, and a number of the sailors. 
No man on board knew anything about navigation, 
but the bov. John Paul, had made no small study of 
the art and now took command of the ship. He did 
his work so ably that when he brought the vessel safely 
into port the owners were so pleased with his ability 
as to make him its captain. 

The young sailor had taken a fancy to America dur- 
ing his first visit. He had a brother living on the 
Rappahannock River, in Virginia, whom he visited 
several times in his voyages, and grew so in love with 
the country that when his brother died he gave up life 
on the sea and took up a farmer's life on his brother's 
estate. 

It was during his residence in Virginia that he took 
the name of Jones, calling himself John Paul Jones. 
Why he did so is not known. Theories are given, but 
none of them are proved. All that we are here con- 
cerned in is the fact that it was under this name he 
won his great fame, he being usually known in his- 
tory by the name of Paul Jones, the John being dropped 
by most writers. 

When the colonies broke into rebellion in 1775 and 
Congress took steps to form a navy, Jones was prompt 
to offer his services to the young Republic, and suc- 
ceeded in getting himself appointed first lieutenant on 
the " Alfred," the flag-ship of Commodore Hopkins. 
As such he had the honor to hoist the first American 
flag to the masthead of an American naval vessel. 
This was a yellow silk flag, bearing the picture of a 
pine tree with a rattlesnake coiled at its root, and the 
motto " Don't tread on me." We have already told 
how he duplicated this honor in being the first to raise 
the Stars and Stripes on an American ship of war. 



24 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Jones had been offered the command of the " Provi- 
dence," a twelve-gun brig, but he modestly declined, 
saying that he did not know enough to be a captain 
and was hardly fit to be a first lieutenant. But Com- 
mander Hopkins soon saw that he was a born sea- 
man, and on the loth of May, 1776, he ordered him to 
take command of the " Providence," with the duty of 
carrying troops and convoying merchantmen along the 
coast. This work he performed with admirable skill, 
managing to avoid the British warships that swarmed 
in those waters and to bring men, guns and food in 
safety to Washington, then in New York. Congress 
saw that here was a man of worth, and soon after, on 
August 8th, raised him to the rank of captain. 

Paul Jones was now fighting for an independent 
nation, not for rebel colonies, for independence had 
been declared and a new spirit animated all men con- 
cerned. Captain Jones soon showed his skill and alert- 
ness in a dramatic feat. He had been bidden to cruise 
for prizes between Boston and the Delaware, but took 
it upon himself to stretch his territory down as far 
as the Bermudas. Off these islands, on September i, 
the lookout sighted what appeared to be a group of 
merchantmen, five in number. 

Jones, eager for prizes, began beating up to the larg- 
est of the group, but suddenly found himself danger- 
ously close to a twenty-eight-gun frigate, the " Sole- 
boy." His boldness had got the little " Providence " 
into a tight place, and how to get out was a difficult 
problem. Tacking hastily, he sailed away, the " Sole- 
boy " hot foot after him, and for nearly four hours 
of a sharp chase managed to keep out of gunshot. 

The " Providence " was a good sailer, but the frigate 
proved a better, and steadily gained on her until at last 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 25 

she was less than a hundred yards away and in posi- 
tion to yaw round and give the Httle brig her full 
broadside. It was the time for surrender, if Captain 
Jones had any such thought, for the iron hail from the 
frigate's guns threatened to rend the little brig into 
fragments. But Captain Jones had no such thought. 

He passed the word to the men to stand ready to 
square away before the wind and set all sail promptly 
when the word came, while others were posted with 
lighted matches at the cannon on the lee side, and a 
quartermaster stood by to hoist the American flag. 

The critical moment arrived. Just as the " Sole- 
boy " was about to fall off, the little brig spun round 
on her heel square across the frigate's bows, the broad 
flag rose gracefully to the truck, and the guns of the 
" Providence " sent their iron hail hurtling along the 
enemy's deck. At the same moment the studding sails 
were set on both sides alow and aloft, and before the 
sudden dismay ended on the frigate's deck the swift- 
footed " Providence " was out of the reach of her 
guns and drawing rapidly away. The " Soleboy " fired 
more than a hundred round shot in the subsequent pur- 
suit, but not a ball reached her, and off she went like 
a bird before the wind, easily now outsailing the frigate 
on this course. 

This is an example of the kind of man Paul Jones 
was. The idea of surrender seems never to have 
entered his mind. He was a man to fight to the death 
and go down with his flag. Not long afterwards he 
had a second adventure of the same sort. He was 
now off the coast of Nova Scotia and letting his men 
have a day's sport in fishing for codfish, when another 
British frigate, the " Milford," came bowling up to 
spoil their sport. Another chase began, but in this 



26 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Captain Jones soon found that he had the fastest ship 
and began to play with the frigate, shortening sail so 
as to keep just beyond the range of her guns. The 
" Milford " kept up a steady fire, rounding to at inter- 
vals to send broadsides that only ruffled the surface of 
the sea, while Jones tormented and infuriated the Brit- 
ish captain by contemptuously answering each broad- 
side with a musket shot. When he had all the fun of 
this kind he wished he spread his sails and soon left 
the lumbering frigate miles behind. 

The cruise of the " Providence " was in other ways 
a notable one. In less than two months the little brig 
captured and sent in sixteen prizes and burned some 
others. Soon after Jones was made captain of the 
" Alfred," the ship on which he had begun his naval 
career, and with this he had the good fortune to cap- 
ture the brig " Mellish," whose lading included ten 
thousand uniforms for British soldiers, a splendid pres- 
ent to Washington's half-clad men. 

After sending the " Mellish " in he came upon a fleet 
of coal vessels in foggy weather and boldly carried off 
three of them without the frigate that convoyed them 
suspecting that anything was wrong. Two days later 
he came upon and snapped up a British privateer. The 
" Alfred " was now short of food and water and had 
four prizes to look after, and Captain Jones fancied 
it about time to make for port. But he was not to get 
there without a new adventure, for his old antagonist, 
the " Milford," came in view. He could not play 
with her now ; he had his prizes to care for ; skill and 
shrewdness were needed to save them. He told his 
prize captains to keep on as they were, no matter what 
signals he might make, and when night came on he 
hoisted two lanterns to his tops. Soon the course of 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 27 

the " Alfred " was changed, and the " Milford " fol- 
lowed, thinking probably that the Yankee was out of 
his wits, thus to blazon his path. When morning 
dawned the " Alfred " was still in sight, but the prizes 
were gone except the privateer, whose captain had 
failed to obey orders and stupidly followed the lantern 
lights. The result was that she was retaken. That 
afternoon a squall of snow came upon the seas, and 
the Yankee craft, " amid clouds and darkness and 
foaming surges, made her escape." A few days later 
the " Alfred " sailed into Boston harbor and her cruise 
was at an end. 

The events so far narrated formed the apprentice- 
ship of Paul Jones as a hero of the seas. The days of 
his mastership were still to come, and this was to be in 
other waters than those in which his first years as a 
fighter had been passed. It was the work of these 
later years, yet to be told, that made him the greatest 
figure in the naval history of America and, to a certain 
extent, of the world. It is with the remarkable deeds 
of these years that we are now concerned. 

For a time after his return to Boston it looked as if 
the naval career of Paul Jones was at an end, instead 
of in its beginning. Politics were at play in the young 
Republic, and there seems to have been jealousy on 
the part of Commodore Hopkins, who had done so 
little, of the man who had done so much. At all events, 
his ship was taken from him and given to another 
captain and he was ordered back to the little " Provi- 
dence." And in the new list of naval captains that 
was made by Congress while he was taking prizes upon 
the high seas his name stood eighteenth in order, 
instead of near or at the head as it should justly have 
been placed. 



28 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

We have told in the opening page of this record 
how, on the 14th of June, 1777 — six months after he 
brought the " Alfred " into Boston — Paul Jones was 
made captain of the " Ranger," an eighteen-gun ship 
built at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and how he 
raised the new flag of the Union to its peak. It was 
the first time this banner of glory had floated in the 
air above an American ship, and it was to win its great- 
est meed of honor at his hands. 

There was new delay ; money was scarce and sup- 
plies for the ship were hard to get ; they came slowly, 
and it was November i before the " Ranger " spread 
her sails and began her notable career. She was bound 
for France, but she proved a slow sailer and the port 
of Nantes was reached without any prizes being picked 
up except a couple of small brigs engaged in the fruit 
trade. 

The American commissioners in France, Benjamin 
Franklin at their head, had meanwhile been having a 
fine frigate secretly built in Holland, and this they 
proposed to put under the command of Captain Jones. 
But the secret leaked out and came to British ears, 
and such a storm of protest was made that the Dutch 
authorities did not dare let the Americans have her. 
So Jones, bitterly disappointed, was forced to content 
himself with the slow-footed " Ranger." 

He sailed from Nantes February 10, 1778, convoy- 
ing some American merchant ships to Quiberon Bay, 
and here he won the first international honor to the 
new flag, for when he saluted the French standard, the 
admiral in command at Quiberon gracefully returned 
his salute. It was the first recognition of the Stars 
and Stripes in foreign waters and by the warships of 
a European power. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 29 

Captain Jones had it in mind to do the boldest thing 
yet attempted by an American ship. England was 
invading America and doing what mischief she could 
along its shores. He proposed to carry the war into 
English waters and let the islanders feel how war 
seemed when brought home to them. Taking a num- 
ber of prizes in his cruise, he bore away for the port 
of Whitehaven, the shipping town he had lived in 
when a boy and from which he had first gone to sea. 

One would think that sentiment would have kept 
Captain Jones from seeking to injure this place of his 
boyhood memories; but there is no sentiment in war, 
and it may be that his memories of Whitehaven were 
not of the best. At any rate he made that port his goal, 
and would have entered the crowded harbor torch in 
hand, but for a storm which forced him, for the present, 
to give up the attempt. The weather also kept him 
from attacking a fleet of merchantmen he met, so he 
headed across for the Bay of Carrickfergus, Ireland, 
at the head of which the city of Belfast stands. 

Picking up a fisherman outside, he learned that a 
man-of-war, the " Drake," a larger craft than his and 
carrying more men and more guns, lay at anchor in 
the bay. He made an effort to take this craft by a 
midnight surprise, but things went wrong and the 
" Ranger " got into so awkward a situation that Jones 
was obliged to abandon the project, leaving the lookout 
on the " Drake " in a quandary as to what was the 
matter with that badly-handled merchantman. 

The " Drake " was to find out a few days later, but 
just for the present Paul Jones had other work in hand. 
He stood across again for Whitehaven, sailed at night 
into the harbor, which was crowded with shipping, 
over two hundred vessels in all, and prepared to give 



30 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

John Bull a much needed lesson in the amenities of 
war. Outrages had been inflicted by British ships on 
the American shores, and Captain Jones said that he 
proposed " to put an end, by one good fire of shipping, 
to all the burnings in America." 

It was an enterprise of the utmost daring, success 
in which depended upon its audacity. Sending Lieu- 
tenant Wallingsford in one boat to fire the shipping, 
he went ashore in another boat, took by surprise the 
two small forts that guarded the harbor and spiked 
their guns, then looked across the harbor for the flames 
which he expected to see rising from the ships. None 
were to be seen. For some reason unknown Wallings- 
ford had failed to do his work. 

Jones in haste ran back to the beach, set fire himself 
to a large ship in the midst of the fleet, broke open a 
barrel of tar and flung the contents upon the flames he 
had kindled, and then hurried ashore again. It was 
time. The people had taken the alarm, sprung from 
their beds, and were hurrying in crowds to the water- 
side. But there stood bold Captain Jones, pistol in 
hand, and ordering them to retire, in such strenuous 
tones that they fell back with a wild haste that was 
rather amusing. Then he sprang into his boat again 
and was rowed hastily away. The aflFair had miscar- 
ried, for the townsmen put out the fire on the burning 
ship, but Great Britain had been thrown into a 
thorough fright and thenceforward its people looked 
upon Paul Jones as a pirate of the first rank, for whom, 
if caught, tliere was to be but one end — the rope. 

Fie proposed to stir them up further still. In addi- 
tion to burning the shipping he had planned to take 
prisoner a great lord, to be held as a hostage for the 
proper treatment of American prisoners. On the Isle 



^ 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 31 

of St. Mary, across the bay, stood the mansion of the 
Earl of Selkirk, a nobleman for whom his father had 
worked as a gardener. But here, too, his plans went 
amiss, for the earl, luckily for himself, was not at home. 
To satisfy his men Captain Jones allowed them to carry 
away the silverware of the earl, for which act of brig- 
andism the " pirate " was afterwards much threatened 
and berated, despite the fact that when the plate was 
sold for the benefit of the men, Jones bought it in at a 
cost of $5,000 and sent it back, with his compliments, 
to the earl. 

The next event in the stirring career of Paul Jones 
had to do with the " Drake," the warship he had failed 
to capture in Carrickfergus Bay. He still had a hank- 
ering after that trim craft, and on the morning of 
April 24, three days after his former visit, he hove to 
off the bay, and for several hours kept backing and 
filling in the waters outside. The captain of the 
" Drake," curious to know what this stranger wanted, 
sent an officer out in a boat to ask him his business. 
It was not until the young fellow got on board that he 
found he was on the deck of a Yankee cruiser. 

By this time the captain of the " Drake " had taken 
the alarm and knew that he had an enemy with which 
to deal. He now got his vessel under way and came 
out to try conclusions with the daring foe. The fact 
that an American cruiser lay off the bay spreaa rapidly, 
signal fires were kindled on the neighboring hilltops 
and five excursion boats from Belfast followed the 
" Drake " out into the channel, crowded with people 
eager to see the insolent Yankees whipped and taken. 

The tide ran wrong, the wind was light, and it was 
not far from sundown when the " Drake " came within 
fighting reach. Then her colors rose to her peak. 



32 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Instantly the Stars and Stripes were hoisted to the 
masthead of the " Ranger." 

" What ship is that? " hailed the " Drake." 

" It is the American ship * Ranger.' We are waiting 
for you. The sun is little more than an hour from 
setting. It is time to begin ! " roared back Captain 
Jones. " Hard up with the helm," he called to the 
man at the wheel. 

The " Ranger " wore round. The " Drake " did the 
same. In a few minutes they were drifting before the 
wind side by side and broadsides were hurtling from 
both ships. For an hour this cannon play was kept 
up, and then, just as the sun was going down behind 
the Irish hills, a cry for quarter was heard on the 
" Drake," and the battle — as pretty a sea-fight as is 
often seen — came to an end. The " Ranger " had won. 

It was none too soon for the " Drake," for by this 
time she was a sorry spectacle. Her fore and main- 
topsail yards were early cut in two ; then the mizzen- 
gaff was shot away ; then the jib dropped into the 
waves ; the rigging and sails were rent into rags. On 
deck blood ran freely from the scuppers ; the com- 
mander, Captain Burdon, was shot dead, and the first 
lieutenant fell mortally wounded. Two flags had been 
shot away before the cry for quarter came, and forty- 
two of the crew were killed and wounded, while the 
" Ranger " had lost but two killed and eight wounded. 
The odds had been against the " Ranger," but Paul 
Jones was her captain, and he was a man who knew 
how to handle a fighting ship and who fought to win. 

Back in triumph to France sailed Captain Jones with 
his prize, leaving consternation in his wake. It has 
been written of the exploits of this famous cruise that 
" The news of the brilliant achievements of Paul Jones 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 33 

electrified France and appalled England." We may 
be sure that America was electrified also when the 
news reached its shores. 

A man who could do work like this was wasting 
his time as captain of an eighteen-gun ship. So felt 
Franklin, and so felt France, which had now become 
an ally of America. He had in him the stuff to make a 
great admiral, and it was decided to give him a more 
important command. But the delay in doing so was 
exasperating. It was May 8, 1778, when he sailed 
into Brest after his brilliant cruise. It was February 4, 
1779, when he was again put in command of a ship. 
And he would not have gained it then if he had not 
read a wise saying in the " Poor Richard's Almanack " 
of his friend Franklin : " If you wish to have any busi- 
ness done expeditiously and faithfully, go and do it 
yourself." 

So, after endless delays at Brest, he went to Paris, 
where he was handsomely received and where he soon 
cut the threads of red tape that had tied up his business. 
He got his ship — but such a ship ! It was a great, 
wall-sided, rotten timbered, old East India trader, that 
had outlived its usefulness in that capacity and was now 
to be turned into a warship and sent against England's 
famous men-of-war. The afifair seemed ludicrous, and 
only a man in despair of getting any ship at all would 
have ventured to sea to fight in such a craft. As it 
was, her new commander was to give the old ship 
immortal fame. The name of the " Bonhomme Rich- 
ard " ("Poor Richard"), as Jones named her, will 
have place in history as long as naval annals exist. 

The new commodore wished to give his new craft 
an armament of eighteen-pounders, but, finding that 
it would cause more delay to get them, he had to take 
3 



34 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

twelve-pounclers instead, which were placed on the 
main deck, the six eighteen-pounders he succeeded in 
getting being placed on the deck below, three on a side. 
Nine-pounders were mounted on the forecastle and 
quarterdeck, there being about forty guns in all and 
a crew of some three hundred men, including, besides 
Americans, natives of almost every maritime land. 
For first lieutenant he had Richard Dale, a man lately 
escaped from a British prison and a seaman of his own 
type. 

Such was the flagship of Paul Jones's new fleet. To 
it were added a thirty-six-gun frigate, the " Alliance," 
a thirty-two-gun ship, the " Pallas," a brig, the 
" Vengeance," and a man-of-war cutter, carrying 
eighteen small gtms. 

Though it was on February 4 that Captain Jones was 
ordered to take command, it was not until June 19 
that he was able to set sail. And then he had fresh 
trouble to contend with, for Pierre Landais, a weak- 
headed Frenchman who had been made captain of the 
" Alliance," proved insubordinate and on the first night 
out ran his ship foul of the " Bonhomme Richard," 
injuring both ships so that they had to put back into 
port. It took two months more to repair the damage 
and get to sea again. 

One great good, however, came from this evil hap, 
for a number of American prisoners who had just been 
exchanged came over to France, and more than a 
hundred of them enlisted under Captain Jones. These 
men were a noble aid to him in the great fight that 
was to come. 

Finally, on August 14, the sails were spread once 
more and the small fleet left harbor on its great cruise. 
We do not propose to tell the smaller events of this 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 35 

voyage in British waters. It will suffice to say that 
prizes were taken ; that the ships were separated by a 
gale and came together again ; that Captain Landais 
made further trouble ; that a proposed land attack on 
Leith, near Edinburgh, failed through the timidity of 
the French captains ; and that, on the 23d of Septem- 
ber, the " Bonhomme Richard " and her three remain- 
ing consorts, the " Alliance," " Vengeance " and " Pal- 
las," were jogging along off the Yorkshire coast of 
England, when, doubtless to their delight, they saw a 
fleet of forty-two sail rounding Flamborough Head. 

That these were merchantmen under convoy of two 
warships Captain Jones was soon assured, the more so 
when he saw them scattering like a flock of birds before 
a hawk in response to a signal from the larger frigate. 
Onward came the British frigates, the " Serapis," of 
fifty guns, and the smaller " Countess of Scarborough," 
of twenty-two six-pounders, boldly facing the four 
hostile ships that awaited them. 

The wind was light; night was at hand; before the 
vessels reached each other the sun had set and night 
was coming down over the hills. When they came 
together they were two to two, the " Vengeance " being 
too far away to take part, and the " Alliance " being 
held aloof by the disgruntled Captain Landais. 

It was seven o'clock when the two larger vessels met, 
the " Pallas " at the same time ranging up to the 
smaller British frigate. 

" What ship is that? " hailed the " Serapis." 

" I can't hear what you say," answered Captain 
Jones, suddenly deaf in his desire to gain time to draw 
nearer. 

" What ship is that ? " soon came again the hail. 
" Answer or I shall fire." 



36 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The answer came in a broadside from the American 
guns, echoed immediately by the British. The great 
battle had begun. 

This first fire seemed to spell disaster for Jones and 
his ship, for two of the three eighteen-pounders of his 
lower deck broadside burst in firing, their crews being 
all either killed or seriously wounded. No more guns 
were fired from that deck, the gun crews' being called 
up to the main deck guns. 

For an hour after that initial fire the two ships 
drifted onward side by side, the guns being worked 
with desperate energy, the roar of conflict in the air. 
At the end of that time the " Bonhomme Richard " 
seemed in desperate straits. The ten eighteen-pound- 
ers in the broadside of the " Serapis " had battered her 
flanks until the six ports of her lower deck were rent 
into a broad gaping cavity, while her other side was in 
nearly as bad a condition, the balls passing through and 
plunging into the sea beyond. Here the British gun- 
ners had their own way, for the bursting of the guns 
prevented any return. And in the rolling of the vessel 
some of the eighteen-pound shot pierced the " Bon- 
homme Richard " below the water line, so that she was 
" leaking like a basket." 

The " Serapis," having the advantage of the wind, 
now drew ahead, Captain Pearson having it in view to 
lie across the bows of his antagonist and rake her. 
But his manoeuvre did not work to his liking, his ship 
getting close in front of the " Bonhomme Richard," 
so that the jib-boom of the latter lay over his stem. 
As the vessels were now situated no gun could be 
brought to bear on either ship and for the time the 
firing ceased. 

" Have you surrendered ? " hailed Captain Pearson. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY Z7 

" I have not yet begun to fight," was the grim answer 
of John Paul Jones. 

The ships soon drifted apart, and in the confused 
gyrations that followed the jib-boom of the " Serapis " 
finally got foul of the mizzen rigging of her antag- 
onist. Captain Jones took quick advantage of the 
opportunity, seizing a hawser and lashing the spar of 
the " Serapis " to the mizzen mast of his own ship. 
Stacy, the carpenter, uttered an oath as the hawser 
became entangled. Jones reproved him in these digni- 
fied words: 

" Don't swear, Mr. Stacy. In another moment we 
may all be in eternity, but let us do our duty." 

When the ships were fast he cheerfully said, " Well 
done, my brave lads, we have got her now." 

In the movements of the ships the spar broke, but 
the lashings were thrown over its stump, an anchor 
which dropped on board was similarly secured, and 
the two ships were held together stem to stern, their 
starboard sides opposed. The hour was shortly after 
eight o'clock. 

Such a fight as now began has rarely been seen in 
any waters. The ships lay so close together that the 
gunners of the " Serapis," on running across to work 
their starboard guns, could not open the closed portlids, 
and were obliged to fire through them, blowing them 
oflF. The guns were muzzle-loaders, and each gun 
crew, in driving a charge home, had to thrust the han- 
dle of the rammer through the enemy's port before it 
could be got into the gun's bore. Never had there been 
closer and hotter work. 

But the British had decidedly the advantage in num- 
ber and weight of guns, and one by one silenced those 
of the " Bonhomme Richard," until in the end only 



38 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

two guns, nine-pounders, were left in service on the 
fighting side of the ship. These Captain Jones was 
working with unceasing vigor with his own hands, 
firing double shot from one at the mainmast of the 
enemy and grape and canister from the other to sweep 
her deck. He wheeled over a third from the port side 
and kept undauntedly at his work. 

The situation had grown desperate in the highest 
degree. Below the ship was leaking like a riddle and 
had caught on fire in several places from the wads of 
the British guns. Up came the chief surgeon to say that 
the cots of the wounded were afloat and the ship ready 
to sink, and that they must surrender or go to the bot- 
tom. There was five feet of water in the hold and the 
fire was approaching the magazine. In the midst of 
this fearful dilemma the " Alliance " for the first time 
came into the combat, firing a broadside as she 
approached. The two ships were practically one and 
the " Bonhomme Richard " got the bulk of the shot, 
ten or a dozen of her men falling killed and wounded. 

" You are firing into the wrong ship ! " warned the 
sailors. 

The dastardly work seemed intentional, for another 
broadside was fired, now square into the " Bonhomme 
Richard's " side. Then the traitorous Landais drew 
off, having done all the harm he conveniently could to 
his own consort. It was high time to surrender; the 
ship was whipped. But Paul Jones was not whipped 
and he fought sturdily on, firing, repelling boarders, 
keeping alive the spirit of his men, heedless of the 
stunning fact that his ship was sinking and burning 
beneath his feet. 

Below a new peril had arisen. Two or three hun- 
dred prisoners, taken from captured prizes, were con- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 39 

fined there, and at this perilous interval the master-at- 
arms, sure that the ship would sink, set them free, 
telling them to save themselves. Englishmen all, far 
outnumbering the crew below decks, the ship seemed 
in their hands. 

In a panic of terror the gunner ran to the poop-deck 
and seized the signal halliards to haul down the flag, 
crying : 

" Quarter ! For God's sake, quarter ! Our ship is 
sinking ! " 

Paul Jones heard the words, and in an outburst of 
rage flung an empty pistol at the man's head, hurling 
him headlong down the hatch. He then bade Lieu- 
tenant Dale to go below and see why no more ammu- 
nition was coming up. To the consternation of the 
brave Dale, he found the lower deck thronged with the 
released prisoners. All seemed lost, but his ready wit 
saved the ship. 

" To the pumps ! " he cried to them. " The ' Serapis ' 
is sinking ; you must keep this ship afloat or the whole 
of us will go to the bottom." 

Scared and cowed by this, they went to the pumps 
and to the work of fighting the fire, and were kept 
busy till the end of the affray. But one of them, a mer- 
chant captain, crept through the yawning ports to the 
British ship and told those he met of the Yankees' des- 
perate plight, giving them new courage and spirit 
in the hope of speedy victory. 

The advantages of the Britons were not total. Dur- 
ing the frightful contest the marines in the mast tops 
of the American ship had helped by their fire to clear 
the upper deck of the " Serapis," and one of these 
now saw an opportunity for still more effective work. 
As the ships lay lashed together the mainyard of the 



40 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

" Bonhomme Richard " stretched well over the main 
hatch of the " Serapis." Below lay a heap of gun 
cartridges piled behind the guns, which the powder 
boys had laid there ready for use. Taking a bucket 
of hand grenades out on the yard, the alert marine 
began lighting and dropping them on the enemy's 
deck, aiding effectually in driving the crew below. 
At length he managed to let one fall through the open 
hatch on the heap of cartridges below. 

In an instant there was a terrible explosion. Some 
twenty of the crew were blown to pieces by the burst- 
ing cartridges, and most of the remaining men were 
wounded or were scorched and burned by the flashing 
powder, many having all their clothes torn off. Nearly 
all the men were below, for the marines in the tops 
and Paul Jones with his grape and canister had fairly 
cleared the upper deck of the " Serapis." 

Thus for minute after minute and hour after hour 
went on the terrible fight, Paul Jones raging like a 
Viking of the North, now seizing a pike and leading 
his men to repel boarders, now driving skulkers with 
loaded pistol to their work, now working his three 
quarterdeck guns with his own hands, biting deeper 
with every shot into the mainmast of the " Serapis " 
and again and again sweeping its upper deck with 
charges of canister. 

In the end Captain Pearson stood alone on his quar- 
terdeck. Ruin lay everywhere around him. Numbers 
of his men had been killed and wounded ; his main- 
mast was tottering; many of his guns had been dis- 
mounted ; his opponent was fighting still with the 
fury of a Berseker ; he did not know that the opposing 
ship was sinking and burning. He had reached the 
limit of his staying power, and, all his courage gone. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 41 

he rushed to the halHards and pulled down the flag 
with his own hands. Who can say what feehngs pulsed 
through the soul of Paul Jones at that supreme moment 
of triumph, when in ringing tones he gave the order 
to his men to " cease firing." It was now the hour of 
10.30. The desperate battle had gone on for three 
hours and a half. 

Before Lieutenant Dale could spring on board the 
" Serapis " to take charge of the captured vessel down 
came its wounded mainmast, pulling the mizzen-top- 
mast with it in its fall. He went aft to where Captain 
Pearson stood leaning on the taffrail, his face in his 
hands. 

"The ship has struck," said the dejected captain in 
a melancholy tone, and he bade an officer who had 
come up from below to call off the men from the guns. 

The next interesting scene in this nautical drama 
was that in which Pearson offered his sword to his 
conqueror. The old account — which may not be a 
correct one — credits him with saying: 

" It is painful to deliver up my sword to a man who 
has fought with a halter around his neck." 

" Sir, you have fought like a hero," said Captain 
Jones ; " and I make no doubt your sovereign will 
reward you in the most ample manner." 

His sovereign did ; he made him a knight. When 
Jones heard of it, he said with a chuckle : 

" He deserved it. If I should fall in with him again, 
I '11 make him a lord." 

We have given so much space to the story of this 
great fight that we must shorten what remains to be 
told. While the battle was going on. the " Pallas " 
had captured the " Countess of Scarborough," after a 
two-hours' fight. As for the captain of the " Alliance," 



42 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

his conduct can be accounted for only under the theory 
that he was partially insane. 

Paul Jones hoped ardently to keep the old " Bon- 
homme Richard " alloat, but she was hopelessly hurt, 
and after a vain effort to save her he was forced to let 
her go to the bottom, the flag under which she had won 
floating in triumph at her peak as she vanished under 
the waves. 

With all souls on board the remaining ships, he put 
in to the Dutch port of Texel on October 3, rather to 
the dismay of the Dutch authorities, who did not 
know what to do with this vmwelcome visitor. The 
British Ambassador tried to make them return the 
prizes and hand the Americans over to him as pirates. 
This was more than Holland could in honor consent to, 
but in the end, after two months of negotiating, Jones 
put to sea in the face of a blockading fleet. 

He left port in a fierce gale, sailed boldly down the 
Straits of Dover near enough to land to count the 
warships in the Downs, and reached the Spanish port 
of Corunna on January 16. On his voyage he passed 
British ships-of-the-line, but none attacked him and 
he came safely and triumphantly into port. 

On reaching Paris, Paul Jones was hailed as the 
greatest of ocean heroes. His victory was looked upon 
as marking a new era in ocean warfare. Every honor 
was paid him by the American Commissioners. King 
Louis XIV. gave him a gold-hilted sword suitably 
inscribed and the Grand Cross of the Order of Military 
Merit. At the opera he sat in the Queen's box and the 
audience cheered him to a man. Later that evening a 
laurel wreath was suspended above his head, but he 
left his seat, " an instance of modesty which is to this 
day held up as a model to French schoolboys." 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 43 

Reaching America in the autumn of 1780, he was 
made the honored guest of the nation, a gold medal 
voted him, and the rank of head of the navy conferred 
upon him. Meanwhile, Great Britain, with a spiteful 
smallness that reflects no credit on that great nation, 
was denouncing him as a pirate and offering a reward 
of ten thousand guineas for him, dead or alive. 

By this time the exigencies of the service had 
reduced the American navy to five ships. Another was 
building, the " America," a seventy-four-gun ship-of- 
the-line, and Captain Jones was chosen to com- 
mand this noble ship. But before she was launched 
a French man-of-war was wrecked in Massachusetts 
Bay, and the American Congress, to show its appre- 
ciation of the aid of France, presented the " America " 
to that nation. All that was left for Paul Jones to do 
was to hoist the flags of both countries over the ship 
as she glided from her ways into the water. 

In 1788, some years after the end of the war, Jones 
entered the Russian service as rear admiral, but with- 
out giving up his American citizenship, and holding 
himself subject to a call at any time from the govern- 
ment of the United States. Russia was then at war 
with Turkey, and as commander of the Russian fleet 
in the Black Sea he won repeated victories. But a 
quarrel with a Russian admiral, and the refusal of the 
British officers in the Russian service to fight under 
him, led to his resignation a year later. 

He was subsequently appointed United States Con- 
sul at Algiers, but before the slow mails of that day 
brought him the tidings of his appointment, he died 
in Paris, July 18, 1792. 

This is not the end of the story of Paul Jones. The 
United States continued to look upon him as its great- 



44 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

est naval hero, and in later years the desire arose to 
have his honored remains buried in American soil. 
But all records of his place of burial had been lost, and 
a long search was needed before his body could be 
found in its obscure burial place. Success was attained 
in 1904; his embalmed body, which had defied the rav- 
ages of time, was brought in all honor to the land he 
had fought for, and it now lies interred at Annapolis, 
in the grounds of the Naval Academy, as the most 
suitable resting place for so great a hero of the seas. 



RICHARD DALE, PAUL JONES'S " RIGHT 
ARM OF STRENGTH" 

In our story of John Paul Jones brief mention was 
made of his gallant lieutenant, Richard Dale, who has 
been justly called his " right arm of strength " in the 
famous fight with the " Serapis," since his readiness 
and courage went far to save the " Bonhomme Rich- 
ard " from capture. This brave fellow had a career 
before and after he served on the " Bonhomme Rich- 
ard," and throughout his career showed a courage and 
spirit that makes him worthy of a chapter to himself. 

Born near Norfolk, Virginia, in 1756, the early life 
of Richard Dale bore an interesting resemblance to 
that of his future great commander, for, like him, he 
went to sea at a very early age, twelve years in his case, 
and was captain of a merchant ship at nineteen, when 
the war of the Revolution broke out. 

In his early career in the navy he seemed in doubt 
which side to take. A lieutenant in the Virginia state 
navy in 1776, he was captured and imprisoned at Nor- 
folk, and was induced to enlist in an English cruiser 
fighting against the state vessels. In this new field 
of action he was wounded, and while lying in bed 
recovering he made a resolution " never again to put 
himself in the way of the bullets of his countrymen." 

His first service in his country's cause was on the 
brig " Lexington," under Captain William Hallock, on 
a cruise to the West Indies in quest of powder and 
other military stores. Returning, well laden with this 
much needed material, the " Lexington " had the ill 

45 



46 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

fortune to fall in with the British frigate " Pearl." 
Captain Hallock, unable to run away, promptly sur- 
rendered. 

But a high sea rendered the transfer of the crew to 
the " Pearl " difficult and dangerous, and after a few 
of them had been taken off, the British captain decided 
to leave the remainder on their own vessel, under a 
prize crew, which had orders to follow the " Pearl." 

As the night came on the wind grew fiercer and the 
seas higher, the storm being so severe that the prize 
captain lost all fear of danger from the Yankee pris- 
oners under his control. So, leaving a crew on deck 
to work the brig, he invited the officer of the deck 
below, that they might warm themselves up with a 
mutual glass of toddy. 

The British officer did not appreciate the Yankee 
spirit. There were bold fellows among the captives, 
and they had a daring leader in Master's Mate Dale, 
who, with others, quickly organized a plot to seize the 
craft. Gliding stealthily along the deck in the dark- 
ness and storm, they suddenly laid hands on the unsus- 
pecting crew, the helmsman was knocked from the 
tiller and a new man took his place, the companion- 
way was secured and the too-trusting officers fastened 
below, and the vessel was theirs. Away headed the 
" Lexington " under Dale and his fellows for Balti- 
more, which was safely reached and the prize crew 
handed over as prisoners of war. 

The " Lexington " was destined to be captured again 
in her later career, and this time Math a differ- 
ent ending. Sent to France in 1777, she joined 
the " Reprisal " in a career of preying on British com- 
merce, the two succeeding in sending numerous prizes 
into French ports. Misfortune afterwards came to 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 47 

them both. The " Reprisal " foundered in a storm 
and the *' Lexington " fell into British hands. She 
was captured by a smaller vessel, the " Alert," after a 
long fight, in which all her ammunition was fired 
away and her crew left helpless. 

Dale was still on board with his old rank of master's 
mate, and shared the cruel imprisonment to which all 
the men of the " Lexington " were condemned. 
Thrown into prison on a charge of high treason, they 
were shamefully treated, the conduct of the prison 
officials towards them being brutal in the highest 
degree. So nearly starved did they become that a 
dog which strayed into their yard was killed and eaten 
to appease their hunger. 

Their place of detention was Mill Prison, Plymouth, 
the one from which, as already told. Captain O'Brien 
escaped at a later date. Dale made a double escape 
from this gaol. The first time he joined some enter- 
prising fellows who made their way out by digging a 
tunnel under the prison wall. Reaching London, they 
embarked on a vessel about to clear for Dunkirk, but 
they were captured by a press gang and, being recog- 
nized as Americans, soon found themselves under lock 
and key again. Dale spent forty dismal days in the 
" black hole " of the prison for this escapade, and was 
afterwards sent there for forty days more for singing 
rebel songs. 

A year later Dale made another attempt, and this 
time with better fortune. In some way he procured a 
British uniform — how he did it is not known, as he 
would never tell — but dressed in it he walked boldly 
out of the jail in open day and was never seen there 
again. This time he succeeded in crossing the channel 
and reaching France in safety. 



48 HEROES OF THE NAVY. 

Paul Jones was then engaged in fitting out the 
" Bonhomme Richard " at Brest for her memorable 
cruise. He needed munitions and he needed men — 
good men, men who knew how to handle a ship and 
had the heart to fight. To him, one day, came a young 
sailor who said that he had been master's mate on the 
" Lexington," had lately escaped from a British prison, 
and was open for a berth that would give him a chance 
to pay back some of the debt he owed the British. His 
name, he said, was Richard Dale. 

This was one of the kind of men that Captain Jones 
was on the lookout for — an American, a sailor, and a 
fighter — and he at once engaged him as master's mate 
of the " Bonhomme Richard," employing him in the 
outfitting of the old ship. He soon found that he had 
a first-class man in Dale, one who knew a ship inch by 
inch and had in him the go of a dozen ordinary dock 
workers. Highly pleased with his intelligence and 
activity, he made him his first lieutenant, and it was 
with this rank that Dale sailed on that momentous 
cruise. Next to Jones himself the victory over the 
" Serapis " was due to the zeal, courage and alertness 
of Richard Dale. 

During the great fight with the " Serapis," Dale 
was everywhere, inspiring the men with his courage, 
watching keenly every movement of the enemy and 
taking instant advantage of it, and carrying out the 
orders of his superior with a loyal intelligence that 
must have given intense satisfaction to the hard-fight- 
ing captain of the " Bonhomme Richard." We have 
said something about Dale's doings in our story of Paul 
Jones. A more detailed account of them is here in 
place. 

It is to Lieutenant Dale we owe an amusing anec- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 49 

dote of the gunners on tlie two ships as they were fight- 
ing hand to hand, with ports ahnost touching. He 
tells how he saw a gun's crew of his men racing with 
one in the " Serapis " in a strife to get loaded first. 
Each gunner had to poke his rammer handle through 
the port-hole of the enemy in order to ram the charge 
home. 

" Fair play, you infernal Yankee ! " roared the Eng- 
lishman, as he thrust his rammer through the port. 

" Mind your eye, you blasted Johnny Bull," retorted 
the Yankee, making the same movement. 

In this special instance, as Dale relates, the Eng- 
lish gunner got the start, and fired with such effect that 
the Yankee cannon was dismounted. 

Dale's service to Captain Jones was especially great 
at that critical moment when the prisoners on board 
the " Bonhomme Richard," almost equalling in num- 
bers the entire crew of that ship, were set free by a 
panic-stricken sub-officer. Going below to learn why 
the gun cartridges had ceased coming up, he found the 
ship in a frightful confusion between decks, the freed 
prisoners in a state of wild turmoil, rushing about like 
loose cattle. The situation was one of imminent dan- 
ger. If these fellows. Englishmen all, should have time 
to regain their wits and learn the state of affairs, they 
might attack the defenders of tlie ship, a fatal con- 
tingency under the circumstances. 

Dale saw the danger at a glance, and his quickness 
of wit in an emergency saved the situation, 

" To the pumps, you fellows ! " he shouted. " The 
* Serapis ' is ready to sink and we will all of us go to 
Davy Jones if this ship is not kept afloat. Here, some 
of you, get buckets and fight the fire. Your lives 
depend on yourselves." 
4 



50 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

In a few minutes he had them all busily at work, 
panic-stricken at his words of warning, eagerly man- 
ning the pumps and fighting the flames furiously. New 
gangs were set at work as the old ones gave out, and 
until the battle ended no respite was allowed them, no 
time to think or conspire. Dale walked about among 
tliem, inspiring them to greater efforts by remarks that 
the " Serapis " was fast settling and might at any 
minute go down. 

Fortunately the desperate contest was near its end. 
The explosion of the cartridges on the fighting deck 
of the " Serapis " soon followed, and quickly after- 
wards Captain Pearson, terror-stricken at the awful 
calamity, hauled down his flag. In a minute more 
Lieutenant Dale, sent by Paul Jones to take charge of 
the prize, was swinging himself to the deck of the 
" Serapis," followed by a few of the crew. What 
took place is thus stated in an old number of the 
British Journal: 

" As he made his way aft he saw a solitary person 
leaning on the taffrail in a melancholy posture, his 
face resting upon his hands. It was Captain Pearson. 
He said to Dale: 

" ' The ship has struck.' While hurrying him on 
[the victorious ship] an officer came from below and 
observed to Captain Pearson that the ship alongside 
was going down. 

" ' We have got three guns clear, sir, and they '11 
soon send her to the devil.' 

" The captain replied : * It 's too late, sir. Call the 
men off. The ship has struck.' 

" * I '11 go below, sir, and call them oft" immediately,' 
and he was about to descend when Dale, interfering, 
said: 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 51 

" * No, sir; if you please, you '11 come on board with 
me. 

So much for this story, which shows that the alert 
lieutenant was still alive to the situation. He did not 
propose to let this fighting fellow go below and per- 
haps do as he had threatened in defiance of Captain 
Pearson's order. It was a chance not safe to take in 
the condition of the " Bonhomme Richard." 

Jones and Dale were both wounded in the fight, the 
captain receiving a wound in the head which after- 
wards seriously afifected his eyes, the lieutenant being 
hurt by a splinter, though he did not know of it till 
the battle was over. While sitting on the binnacle of 
the " Serapis " and giving orders to get her under 
way, he found that she did not move when her sails 
were full. Not knowing that she had been anchored 
during the battle, — being in the shallow water near 
shore, — he sprang up to see what was wrong and fell 
at full length on the deck, disabled by the wound of 
which so far he had been ignorant. 

We may be sure that the gallant Dale rendered effi- 
cient service to Captain Paul Jones during his subse- 
quent adventures before reaching France, and that he 
shared a fair measure of the glory gained by captain 
and crew. He left Holland with him in the " Alliance " 
and crossed the Atlantic with him on the " Ariel." 
He figured later on in another bold afifair during the 
naval war of the Revolution. 

He was now an officer on the " Trumbull," a twenty- 
eight-gun frigate that sailed from Philadelphia in 
August, 1 78 1, as an escort for a fleet of merchantmen. 
Half manned, and with a considerable number of her 
crew Englishmen who had shipped with the hope of 
helping their country, and many others landsmen, she 



52 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

put to sea, and while off the capes of the Delaware was 
attacked by the British frigate " Iris " of thirty-two 
guns and another ship of unknown name. Ranging 
np on the two sides of the " Trumbull," they poured 
their broadsides into her. 

Captain Nicholson, though so utterly overmatched, 
returned the fire, but at the first broadside the English- 
men in the crew left their posts and fled in a body to 
the hold. The landsmen, of whom there were a goodly 
number on board, were frightened by their action and 
followed their flight. The vessel was apparently lost. 
With but half her full complement to begin with, only 
some fifty Yankee seamen were now left to fight the 
enemy. 

But among these fifty was Richard Dale, late lieu- 
tenant of the " Bonhomme Richard," and some other 
gallant fellows, not the sort of men to surrender with- 
out a fight. With one ship against two, fifty men 
against some seven hundred, and twenty-eight guns 
against fifty or more, they fought the " Trumbull " 
for an hour with the persistency and valor of Paul 
Jones, sixteen of the valiant fifty falling during the 
fight. 

The flag was still bravely flying when a third Brit- 
ish ship, the " General Monk," came up, and took posi- 
tion to rake the " Trumbull " at short range. Only 
when the case became thus hopeless did the gallant fel- 
lows leave their guns and only tlien was the flag 
hauled down. Lieutenant Dale had taken part in 
another affair as striking in its way as that of his earlier 
career, and for the fourth time he was a prisoner in 
British hands. Fortunately for him, the war was now 
near its end and he was soon exchanged, he afterwards 
serving in privateers and on mercliant ships. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 53 

Dale was commissioned a captain in the United 
States navy in 1794, but saw no active service until 
1 80 1, when he was put in command of a " squadron of 
observation " sent to the Mediterranean, where the 
pirates of Tripoli and Algiers were making serious 
trouble for American merchantmen. The appearance 
of Dale and his four ships soon brought the Dey of 
Algiers to terms, but the Bashaw of Tripoli continued 
defiant, and on the ist of August a fight took place 
between the schooner " Enterprise " and the Moorish 
war vessel " Tripoli," in which the latter was taken 
after a desperate struggle. 

Unluckily for Dale, his instructions prevented him 
from undertaking any serious work, and the most he 
could do was to prevent the corsairs of the Tripolitans 
from making captures. His skilful handling of his 
squadron, however, brought a merited compliment from 
Lord Nelson, England's famous admiral. Nelson, 
after observing the movements of Dale's ships, made 
the remark that in the handling of American ships 
there was a nucleus of trouble for the British navy. 
The truth of this remark was demonstrated a decade 
later. 

Weary of the kind of work to which his orders con- 
fined him. Dale resigned in December, 1802, leaving 
the Americans to the more effective work of the fol- 
lowing year in the Mediterranean. The remainder of 
his life was passed in Philadelphia, in the enjoyment 
of a sufficient estate for his needs, and in that city he 
died in 1826. 



JOHN BARRY, THE IRISH CHAMPION OF 
THE DELAWARE 

For twenty-eight men in a rowboat to capture a ten- 
gun schooner with a crew of one hundred and sixteen 
men was an exploit to be proud of. Captain John 
Barry, a gallant Irishman of Revolutionary days, was 
the hero of this notable act of valor, which was but 
one of the deeds that gave him rank among the naval 
heroes of America. The story of this bold fighter is 
amply worth telling. 

Born in County Wexford, Ireland, in 1745, the bold 
Barry came to America about 1760, and thenceforth 
made that land his home when he was not on the waters 
of the broad Atlantic. Barry was a true sea-dog, fol- 
lowing the sea from childhood, and being master of a 
vessel at the age of fifteen. He gained wealth in 
mercantile enterprise. In 1775, when thirty years of 
age, we find him serving as captain of the " Black 
Prince," a packet ship plying between London and 
Philadelphia, into which latter port it came when Con- 
gress was looking about for some vessels suitable for 
naval purposes. The " Black Prince," a stoutly built 
ship, was the best that came to their notice, and was 
bought to serve as the flagship of the new fleet, being 
renamed the "Alfred," after Alfred the Great. It 
was the vessel which, after serving as the flagship of 
Commodore Hopkins, was for a time commanded by 
Paul Jones. 

Captain Barry, being thus left without a ship, applied 
to Congress for employment, and in February, 1776* 
54 




COMMODORE JOHN BARRY 
From the painting by Gilbert Stuart 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 55 

was appointed captain of tlie arnuHl brig " Lexington," 
which, while Commodore Hopkins with his fleet was 
fighting the " Ghisgow " olY the Long Ishuul coast, 
pnt out from the Delaware on a cruise. 

On April 17, when off the Virginia capes, Captain 
Barry fell in with a small craft, the " Edward," carry- 
ing about half the number of the gims of the " Lex- 
ington," and with a crew of only thirty-five men, while 
Barry had more than twice as many. But it was his 
first cruise in a warship and Barry lacked skill in his 
new line of duty, while on the other hand Lieutenant 
Boucher, of the " Fxlward," was brave and skilful and 
fought his little craft with great valor. The result 
was that it took the " Lexington " more than an hoiu" 
to force her to surrender. It was an honor to IJarry, 
for this was the first capture made by a ship of the 
American navy. 

In our story of Richard Dale Uie later career of the 
" Lexington " is related. Captain Barry had mean- 
while been transferred from her to a more important 
command, that of the new frigate " h^l'fingh.im," then 
building in Philadelphia. 

It proved an unsatisfactory assignment for a man 
of his active spirit, since before the ship was ready 
for sea a British army had swooped down on l^hila- 
delphia, and the " EfTmgham," the " Washington," and 
some other vessels were caugiit in a trap. To save 
them from the enemy they were taken up the river to 
White Hill, New Jersey. But this was too near to 
Philadelphia for them to seem safe, and orders soon 
came from Mr. Hopkinson, of the Navy lioard, to 
sink the " Efiingham." 

Tills order made Captain Barry's Irish blood very 
hot. He had a sharp debate with Hopkinson over the 



56 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

sinking, declaring that witli the ten guns he had and 
the thirteen guns on the " Washington " he could make 
a good fight against any force the British would be 
likely to send against him. 

As the talk went on Hopkinson made some personal 
remarks, to which Barry replied in anything but a 
courteous tone. He said some hard things about the 
members of the Board and stormed fiercely about the 
order to destroy a ship that was able to fight. In the 
end, much to his disgust, he was obliged to sink the 
ship, and later, by order of Congress, had to apologize 
for his strong language, which he did with very ill 
will. Time vindicated the brave Barry, and proved 
that he was quite right in his opinion that the ship 
could have been saved. 

Here now was Captain Barry without a ship and 
burning with eagerness for a fight. Bent on getting 
at the British in some way, he determined to try and 
go down the river past the city, and one night set out 
with four rowboats manned by twenty-seven men, 
passing between the shore and the ships in the stream. 
Some soldiers saw the boats and a few shots were fired, 
but they passed on without damage and by daybreak 
were down the Delaware beyond the zone of danger. 

Barry kept on till he reached Port Penn, where 
there was a small fort manned by American soldiers. 
On the opposite side of the river lay four transports 
laden with food for the army in Philadelphia, and on 
guard over them was a large schooner, the " Alert," 
carrying ten guns. 

Here was the opportunity wanted by Barry, who was 
" spoiling for a fight." It was broad daylight ; the 
" Alert " had eight men to his one ; it had a wide- 
awake name ; yet without hesitation the bold Irishman 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 57 

made a daring dash for it, under imminent peril of 
being sent to the bottom. As it proved, dash and bold- 
ness told. Before the British could get their sleepy 
wits into working order the boats had dashed up to 
the schooner and the men were eagerly clambering 
up her sides, cutlass in hand. Leaping on deck, Barry 
at their head, yelling like madmen, cutting and slashing 
in wild fury, the dismayed British sailors on deck 
dropped everything and ran below in fright. Without 
delay, Barry clapped on the hatches and in a jiffy was 
master of the craft. 

It was a feat almost without precedent. In open 
daylight a party of twenty-eight men, headed by a 
" wild Irishman," had captured a ten-gun schooner 
manned with one hundred and sixteen men — officers, 
seamen and soldiers. Barry had well proved his capac- 
ity as a fighting captain. He carried his prisoners to 
Port Penn, and delivered them to the garrison there. 

This gallant feat took place on the 26th of February, 
1778. With a deck under his feet and the broad Dela- 
ware Bay under his keel, Barry now made things lively 
for the British foe, patrolling the river and bay, cap- 
turing the food ships that came up stream and cutting 
off supplies to such an extent that the army at Phila- 
delphia began to suffer for food and to feel some of the 
privations that Washington's army was experiencing 
at Valley Forge. 

Two months of this work was more than Lord Howe 
could stand, and a frigate and sloop-of-war were sent 
from Philadelphia down the river to drive away this 
troublesome wasp that was stinging the British lion. 
This was a force much too great for Captain Barry 
to deal with, and finding these water-hounds hot on 
his track, he ran the " Alert " into Christiana Creek, 



S8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

hoping to get her into water too shallow for his heavy 
pursuers to venture in after him. 

As it proved, the frigate was too fast and chased 
him so closely that he was forced to abandon the 
schooner and take to his boats. But before doing so 
he turned two of the guns downward and fired balls 
through her bottom. The water was pouring into the 
hold of the " Alert " when Barry and his men struck 
out for the shore. A broadside from the ship came 
hurtling after them, but all the effect it had was to 
bring a cheer of defiance from the gallant tars, who 
soon reached the land and sprang ashore. Here they 
saw with delight the schooner sink before a boat's crew 
from the frigate could reach her deck. Barry led his 
men back to White Hill through the woods. 

The two war vessels now went for the transports at 
Port Penn. The shore battery here was made of bales 
of hay, not very serviceable material against cannon- 
balls, but it was manned by sharpshooters, who fought 
till their captain fell with a mortal wound. They then 
set fire to the vessels and fled to the woods. 

The exploit we have described was one of the most 
spectacular yet performed by an American captain 
and brought Barry high popularity. Congress saw that 
in him they had a bold fighter, and the British recog- 
nized in him a dangerous foe. Howe sought to turn 
him over to the British side, offering him twenty thou- 
sand pounds in money and the command of a frigate 
if he would desert the American cause. He soon found 
that he was not dealing with a Benedict Arnold. 
Barry sent him the following answer: 

" Not if you pay me the price and give me the com- 
mand of the whole British fleet can you draw me 
away from the cause of my country." 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 59 

Congress rewarded him for his patriotism by giving 
him the command of the frigate " Raleigh," then lying 
at Boston. His career in this new ship was a remark- 
ably brief but very eventful one. Sailing from Boston 
on Septem.ber 25, 1778, three days later he had lost his 
ship and was wandering with his crew in the forest 
wilderness of Maine. Ill fortune had pursued him. 
from the outset. 

When he left Boston it was with two merchant ships 
in charge. Setting sail in the early morning, by noon 
two sails were sighted to the south, and Captain Barry 
signalled the convoy to steer close-hauled while he 
ran down for a closer look at the strangers. The light 
wind made his progress slow and it was near sundown 
before he found he had two British frigates before him. 

The odds were too great and he signalled the mer- 
chantmen to sail back for port, taking the same course 
himself till darkness came upon the sea, when he 
turned back to his former route. At day dawn he 
found himself in a fog-bank, so thick that nothing 
could be seen, and until noon it kept around his ship. 
When it lifted he found, to his chagrin, that the two 
British frigates were still in sight to the southward, 
sailing in a course parallel to his own. 

For the next three hours there was a hot chase, the 
" Raleigh " being close-hauled and put under full sail, 
the enemy following at top speed. Then down came 
another fog and all things were blotted out again. 
Heading once more to the eastward, the " Raleigh " 
now ran on till the dawn of the 27th, when Barry took 
in all sail and kept his ship under bare poles, to render 
it difficult to see, while he searched the horizon for 
the hostile ships. Failing to see them, he made sail 
once more, heading southeasterly. 



6o HEROES OF THE NAVY ■ 

But the British bulldogs were not to be thrown off 
the track. At 9.30 they came in sight again and the 
" Raleigh " was now headed to the northwest, reeling 
on before " a staggering breeze " at a pace that soon 
dropped the Britons below the horizon. Unfortunately, 
by noon the wind failed her, while it still kept with the 
British ships, which now rapidly gained upon the 
American, the fastest of them being near at hand by 
five o'clock. 

Captain Barry's only hope now was to fight and 
cripple this cruiser before her consort could come up, 
and, as the record states, " the * Raleigh ' edged away, 
brailing her mizzen and taking in her staysails." Cross- 
ing the bows of the enemy, Barry dropped down 
abreast, hoisting the American flag as he did so. The 
British flag at once rose to the enemy's peak. 

The next instant they were at it, broadside answering 
broadside, but instead of crippling his foe, Barry 
suffered that fate himself, the second British broadside 
carrying away his foretopmast and mizzen-topgallant 
mast. This gave the Briton decidedly the advantage, 
and while the Americans were clearing away the wreck 
the frigate shot ahead and began firing at long range. 

The case had now grown desperate for the brave 
Barry. In vain he strove to come up with and board 
his enemy, her better show of canvas enabling the 
frigate easily to keep beyond his reach. The other 
ship was fast coming up, and in his crippled condition 
it was madness to think of fighting with two foes, 
each his match. Fortunately the coast of Maine was 
not far distant, some of its bordering islands being 
visible, and there seemed no hope left for himself and 
crew but to run his ship ashore. Night was coming 
on ; the breeze was failing. Setting all sail, he headed 



I 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 6i 

for the island coast. The wind sank until the three 
ships were merely drifting landward, red fire spurting 
from the sides of the two nearer ones and the cliffs 
eclioing to the roar of cannon, as they kept up the fight 
through the gloom of night. 

At midnight the first frigate drew off for an interval, 
but the second now came into the fight. Soon after 
the " Raleigh " grounded and Barry went ashore with 
a part of his men, leaving the others to keep up the 
battle. To save the ship seemed hopeless, and he was 
determined to fire her before leaving her, but before 
the boats could return for the remaining men a scared 
officer on board lowered the flag. 

Captain Barry and the men with him escaped to the 
mainland and suffered many hardships in making their 
way through the woods to the settlements. The 
" Raleigh " ended her career as a member of the Brit- 
ish navy, her captors being the " Unicorn," of twenty- 
eight, and the " Experiment," of fifty guns. It had 
been an eventful but unfortunate three days' cruise 
for the gallant Barry. 

February, 1781, found Captain Barry in command of 
the " Alliance," the ship with which the French Captain 
Landais had done such treacherous work in the great 
battle of the " Bonhomme Richard " and the " Serapis." 
In it Barry took Colonel Laurens to France, and after- 
w^ards carried Lafayette home after the victory at York- 
town. On his first visit to European waters he had one 
of the sharpest fights in his career. While out on a 
cruise, in which he captured several privateers, he 
found himself on May 27 in an exasperating situation. 

He fell in with two British vessels, each smaller than 
his own, which made a bold attack upon him. The 
day had been a quiet one, and as the two hostile ves- 



62 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

sels came up the " Alliance " lost every breath of wind. 
All sail was set, but the canvas flapped against the 
yards, and the vessel lay " as idle as a painted ship 
upon a painted ocean." 

The strangers were a brig and a sloop-of-war. They 
wanted to fight as badly as Captain Barry did, and as 
sailing was impossible they got out sweeps and rowed 
up to the American. A weary time they had of it, for 
it took them six hours to get within gunshot dis- 
tance, but when there they had it at first all their 
own way. 

They had decidedly the advantage of the " Alliance." 
She was too big to be moved by sweeps, and lay 
motionless upon the water while her foes took safe 
positions at short range under her quarter and opened 
fire. The two together had fifteen guns in their broad- 
side, while Barry had only three nine-pounders with 
which he could reach them, and his position was decid- 
edly an awkward one. 

Barry raged with all his Irish fury, bidding his men 
to fight and begging for a wind, but before the fight 
was old he was struck in the shoulder by a grape-shot 
and felled to the deck. As he was being carried below 
a shot tore away the flag of the " Alliance," and the 
British cheered lustily, thinking the ship to be theirs. 
Soon, however, the flag was flying again. 

Yet the " Alliance " seemed doomed. The ship was 
being badly cut up and could make scarcely any reply 
to the fire of the enemy. A lieutenant came down 
where Captain Barry lay raging under his wound. 

" We cannot handle the ship and are being cut to 
pieces," he said. " The rigging Is in tatters, the fore- 
top mast Is in danger, and the carpenter reports two 
ugly leaks. Eight or ten of our people are killed and 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 63 

more are wounded. The case seems hopeless, sir. 
Shall we strike our colors ? " 

" No ! " roared Barry. " Let her sink first ! If the 
ship can't be fought without me, then carry me on 
deck." 

The lieutenant went up and reported what Barry 
had said. The story soon got to the men. 

"Good for Captain Barry!" they cried. "We'll 
stand by the old man." 

Yet, as the lieutenant had said, the case truly seemed 
hopeless ; but, just as the surrender of the " Alliance " 
appeared inevitable, a ripple was seen in the water, a 
breeze rose, the sails filled, the ship glided forward 
and yielded to her helm, and in a minute or two more 
she rounded up and came swinging in between her two 
antagonists. It was now broadside for broadside, and 
the tars of the " Alliance," furious at their late help- 
lessness, poured in shot so fast and furious from their 
eighteen-pounders that the gunners of the enemy were 
driven from their pieces. Just as Captain Barry was 
brought on deck with his wound dressed their flags 
came down. They proved to be the sixteen-gun brig 
" Atlanta " and the fourteen-gun " Trepassy." 

Barry had the honor in the next year of fighting the 
last naval action of the war — the last of all being the 
capture of the " General Monk " by a privateer. On 
March 7, 1782, he sailed from Havana in tlie " Alli- 
ance," carrying a large sum in specie to the United 
States. In company with him was the " Duke de Lau- 
zan." They were not long out of port before a squad- 
ron of three British frigates was encountered and 
Barry put his ship under sail to escape, signalling the 
much slower " Lauzan " to throw her guns overboard 
and follow. 






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66 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

then a colonel in the Revolutionary army, and the 
leader of a famous expedition through the pathless 
forests of Maine against Quebec. Here he fought so 
bravely that he was made brigadier general. His 
memorable fight on Lake Champlain came next, and 
he fought with desperate valor at Saratoga against 
Burgoyne. But anger at the appointment of major 
generals over his head, and a reprimand by Washing- 
ton for his dishonesty and rapacity in pecuniary affairs, 
soured his soul and roused his vindictive spirit, leading 
to the act of treason in which he sought to deliver West 
Point to the enemy. As a colonel in the British army 
his exploits were of little service to those who had 
bought him, and he passed his later life in England 
" shunned and despised by everybody," except King 
George and those who had tempted him to infamy. 
He died in 1801, leaving four sons, all of whom became 
officers in the British army. 

Now let us return to Arnold's one naval exploit. 
In 1776, after the failure of Montgomery's expedition 
against Quebec, Sir Guy Carleton, commander of the 
British forces in Canada, laid plans to repay the Amer- 
icans for their invasion of that country by a like inva- 
sion of New York, his design being to reach Albany 
and, by connecting with the forces in New York city, 
cut off New England from the remainder of the colo- 
nies. It was the same plan which Burgoyne afterwards 
attempted and signally failed in. What would have 
been the result of Carleton's earlier attempt had he not 
been checked at the outset is impossible to say. As it 
turned out, Benedict Arnold baffled him on the waters 
of Lake Champlain. 

Lake Champlain, as most readers know, stretches in 
a long line from southern Canada into New York state. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY (ij 

Below it extends Lake George, near the southern end 
of which the Hudson River begins its course. The 
Richelieu River connects Lake Champlain with the 
St. Lawrence, so that there is a navigable water-way 
from Canada well down towards Albany. This formed 
a natural channel of invasion from Canada and one 
that was followed at various epochs in American his- 
tory. Montcalm sought it in 1757, Carleton and Bur- 
goyne in the war for liberty, and Prevost in 1814. It 
is with Carleton's effort that we are here concerned. 

Sir Guy Carleton, leading his forces up the Riche- 
lieu, encamped at St. John's, at the north end of Lake 
Champlain. The nearest American fort was at Crown 
Point, many miles down the lake. Not far south of 
this, on the divide between Lake Champlain and Lake 
George, stood old Fort Ticonderoga, famous in the 
French and Indian War, and which Arnold had helped 
Ethan Allen to capture the year before. Such was the 
situation in the early autumn of 1776. 

A wilderness of woodland enveloped the lake, its 
best roadways the Indian trails. The liquid surface 
of the lake formed the only available route southward 
for a large force, and this Carleton proposed to take. 
But to do so he would have to build a fleet, for the 
rapids of the Richelieu forbade the ready bringing of 
vessels from the St. Lawrence. It would need to be a 
strong fleet at that, for it was well known to Carleton 
that the Americans did not intend to let him gain con- 
trol of the lake without a hard struggle. 

Carleton, therefore, set his men at work, soldiers, 
sailors and artisans, felling the trees of the forest and 
converting them into vessels. Three of his ships, 
indeed, were built in England, being so constructed 
that they could be taken to pieces and carried through 



68 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the forest from the St. Lawrence to St. John's, there 
to be put together again. The smaller vessels were 
built on the spot, October being well advanced before 
the work was done. In the end he had such a fleet as 
the waters of Lake Champlain had never before borne, 
twenty-five vessels in all. Of these twenty were gun- 
boats, but some of these were of large size. A thou- 
sand men manned this lake fleet, about seven hundred 
of them being trained seamen, and it carried eighty- 
nine cannon of varied calibre. 

Of the ships sent from England, the " Inflexible " 
was a 300-ton ship, carrying eighteen twelve-pound 
guns. A schooner, the " Maria," carried fourteen, 
and another, the " Carleton," twelve guns. There was 
a great scow, named the " Thunderer," armed with 
eighteen guns, and a gondola of seven guns, the gun- 
boats being armed with one gun each. In addition 
Carleton had a large number of Indian allies, prepared 
to paddle down the lake in their canoes. 

While this formidable expedition was under process 
of preparation, the Americans had not been idle. The 
task of coping with Carleton was assigned to Benedict 
Arnold, who had recovered from the wound he had 
received at Quebec. An army officer, at the time in 
command of militia, mostly untried farmers, he seemed 
utterly unsuited to the mission given him. But Arnold 
was in every way a capable man, full of courage and 
energy and of ample resources. He had seen some 
service at sea, so that the task before him was not 
quite a new one. And a number of shipwrights and 
sailmakers were sent him from the coast, while guns 
were provided to arm his fleet when built. As for 
material for his boats, it grew all around him in the 
trees of the forest, with the axes of the farmers and 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 69 

woodsmen to convert it into ship timber and the skill 
of the shipwrights to fashion this into war craft. 

At the head of all was Arnold, a veritable Trojan 
of the wildwood, driving, directing, inspiring, running 
over with energy, ready to meet every emergency that 
arose, letting nothing deter, nothing discourage him. 
Rapidly the woodland trees took on the shape of boats 
and vessels, every effort being made to keep pace with 
the British builders, and the month of October found 
Arnold ready with a fleet of fifteen vessels of various 
types. 

Largest of them was the " Royal Savage," a 
schooner of twelve guns. After her came the ten- 
gun sloop " Enterprise," the eight-gun schooner 
" Revenge," three eight-gun and one six-gun galleys, 
and eight gondolas, two of them carrying five guns and 
the remainder three guns each. The American fleet 
thus carried eighty-eight guns to eighty-nine of the 
British, but they were inferior in weight, the largest 
being eighteen-pounders to the British twenty-fours. 
Of men there were only seven hundred, and these of 
very different calibre from Carleton's " picked sea- 
men," they being, as we are told, " a miserable set ; 
indeed, the men on board the fleet in general were not 
equal to half their number of good men." They did 
not lack courage or good will to fight, but they were 
landsmen, with no knowledge whatever of naval affairs. 

It was fortunate that there was a man of the spirit 
of Benedict Arnold, a Viking of the West, at the head 
of this fleet of homespun vessels, or they would have 
made but a sorry show. As it was, while they were not 
victorious, they gave Sir Guy Carleton such a taste of 
the American fighting power that his deep-laid plans 
vanished into thin air. 



70 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

At break of day on the nth of October, 1776, the 
httle American fleet was drawn up in battle-line in a 
good situation for defence, anchored in a line across 
the north end of the strait between Valcour Island 
and the mainland, just south of where the city of 
Plattsburg now stands. A long cape called Cumber- 
land Head runs down here nearly to the head of the 
island. Arnold had brought his flotilla up the lake to 
this point, as a good spot to meet the British as they 
came down from St. John's. 

The day was such a one as Carleton had been wait- 
ing for. A strong wind from the north was drawing 
down through the valley between Vermont's Green 
Mountains and the Adirondacks of New York. There 
was a cool snap in the air, the sky was clear, every- 
thing seemed propitious, and at sunrise the British fleet 
came at a rattling pace down the lake, passing Cum- 
berland Head and sailing down the east side of Val- 
cour Island, without discovering that a foe lay hidden 
behind its thick-grown forest shade. Not until they 
had passed the island and opened up the view from the 
south did they see Arnold's moored and waiting fleet. 

The sight was not to Carleton's liking. It would 
not do to leave his rear exposed to attack, and he felt 
it necessary to give up the advantage of the fine breeze 
and seek to drive these Yankee wasps from their nest. 
Down went the helms, the vessels rounded up, oars 
were got out on the gunboats, but the wind was so 
strong that it was ten o'clock before the head of the 
fleet reached the channel in which the Americans lay. 

Arnold did not wait for them. Taking the galley 
" Congress " for his flagship, and followed by two 
other gondolas and the " Royal Savage," he went down 
before the wind to meet the enemy. They came within 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 71 

reach of the gunboats at eleven o'clock and the battle 
began, those inland waters for the first time in their 
history trembling to the roar of cannon from fighting 
ships. It is not sure whether this attack was due to 
Arnold's eagerness to get at the enemy, or a mishap 
by which the boats were set adrift. It did not prove a 
fortunate one, the fire of nearly the whole British line 
being centred on this vanguard of the Americans. 
The result was that Arnold soon had to seek the sup- 
port of the remainder of his fleet and in doing so met 
with a serious loss, the " Royal Savage " being so 
severely damaged as to become unmanageable. Her 
men' ran her ashore and took refuge on the island, 
leaving her to be set on fire by the British. Here 
they were in desperate straits, for the woods were full 
of Indians whom Carleton had sent on shore to annoy 
the Americans. 

The larger British vessels were not able to enter the 
sound, but the gunboats and gondolas were rowed up 
till within musket-shot distance, and soon a furious 
battle had begun, broadside answering broadside, grape 
and round shot hurtling through the air, and the dense 
smoke of the conflict drifting into the forest depths, 
which echoed back the roar of battle. 

Arnold, on the deck of the " Congress," handled his 
little fleet with the skill of a born admiral, keeping in 
the thickest of the fight, cheering his men to their 
utmost efforts and at intervals firing a gun himself, 
now at the foe, now at the yelling Indians in the woods. 

For six long hours this desperate encounter was kept 
up, the Americans not yielding an inch, Arnold still 
inspiring them with voice and act, and doing such 
damage to the enemy that at five o'clock they drew ofif 
out of easy range of the American guns and from a 



y2 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

distance kept up the battle till darkness had fallen 
over forest and lake. 

By this time the Americans were in a bad plight. 
The greater part of their powder had been exhausted, 
several of their boats were full of holes — one sinking 
after the fight ended. The " Congress " had been 
hulled a dozen times, had a number of shots between 
wind and water, and would have sunk but that her 
f:irmer crew plugged up her wounds and fought on. 
As for tlie British, two of their gunboats were sunk 
and one had blown up. 

The situation was a perilous one. If the Amer- 
icans stayed there till morning the larger British ships 
would be brought up and their case made hopeless. 
Arnold saw that only one way to safety lay before him. 
The night came on to his liking, dark and stormy, with 
a strong gale from the north. The anchors were 
quietly raised, and the boats glided away, one after 
another, each showing a light to the one that followed 
but shading it from British eyes. In this way they 
slipped unseen through the British line, Arnold, on the 
" Congress," taking the post of danger in the rear. 
Not until morning dawned did the British discover 
that their foes had vanished. The Americans were 
then ten miles down the lake. 

Here they halted for repairs, sank two of the gon- 
dolas that were past mending, patched up the others 
as well as they could, and set out again, hoping to reach 
shelter at Crown Point before they were overtaken. 
The wind had changed to the south and they were 
obliged to take to their oars, but it delayed the British 
as much as it did them, and the day passed without 
the enemy coming into sight. Not until the morning 
of the 13th did they appear. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 73 

The chase was kept up until noon, at which hour 
Crown Point was still some leagues away. The 
" Inflexible," Carleton's flagship, which had taken no 
part in the previous battle, and the schooners " Carle- 
ton " and " Maria " were in the van, the first named 
alone being more than a match for all Arnold's remain- 
ing force. At noon tlie pursuers were within gunshot 
distance and the weary Americans had to drop their 
sweeps and take to their guns again. But, desperately 
as Arnold had already fought, he showed a still more 
unconquerable spirit on this day. 

By this time the American fleet had become much 
scattered, the " Enterprise," the " Revenge," and some 
of the smaller vessels having pushed on beyond reach 
of the foe, leaving the remaining galleys and gon- 
dolas to continue the fight. 

The first broadside from the enemy so injured the 
shattered gondola " Washington " that nothing but 
surrender remained for it. But Arnold trained the 
guns of the little " Congress " upon the big " Inflex- 
ible " and fought it unflinchingly, while the other ves- 
sels daringly assailed the schooners, a running battle 
being kept up for two miles, until one-third of the 
crew of the " Congress " were killed and their craft 
reduced to a wreck that was incapable of doing any 
further damage to the enemy. 

Beaten, fairly whipped into rags, the indomitable 
Arnold and his men had still no thought of surren- 
der. By his order the remaining craft were run ashore 
in a creek near by and set on fire, he fighting off the 
enemy with the " Congress " until their crews were 
safe on shore. Then the " Congress " followed, Arnold 
defiantly standing guard on the stern while his men set 
her on fire and sought the shore. His flag was kept 



74 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

flying and he stood by it until the flames had such 
hold that he was sure no Briton's hand could strike his 
country's standard. Then the brave fellow sprang 
into the water, waded ashore and joined his men, who 
made the forest aisles ring with their cheers. Form- 
ing his men in military order, he led them through the 
woods to Crown Point, ten miles away. Two hours 
later the Indians reached this point, but the Americans 
were gone. 

Thus ended one of the noblest fights the inland 
waters of America ever saw. The British had paid 
dearly for their victory, and Carleton had been treated 
to an example of Yankee pluck and endurance which 
he was not likely soon to forget. After that day's 
fight his ardor cooled. If a flotilla like this could give 
him so much trouble, what would he have to expect 
from an attack on the strong walls of Ticonderoga 
and the swarms of fighting farmers he would meet in 
traversing the wilderness farther south ? 

He sailed on to Crown Point, the small garrison of 
which left it at his coming, and he exchanged some 
shots with the men at Ticonderoga. But hope of suc- 
cess in his enterprise had vanished, and he soon 
returned to Canada, his deftly-laid project of invasion 
given up. Arnold, the soldier-sailor, had snatched 
victory out of defeat. His purpose was to check Carle- 
ton in his invasion, and this he had accomplished, his 
defeat being thus the most glorious in the annals of 
the American navy, since it had all the eflfect of a 
triumph. 



SAMUEL TUCKER, THE BOLD MARINER 
OF MARBLEHEAD 

The following amusing story is told of a fighting 
hero of the Revolution. Oh a day early in 1776 a uni- 
formed rider made his appearance in the straggling 
old town of Marblehead, in Massachusetts, and dili- 
gently inquired for a man of the name of Samuel 
Tucker. He rode on to a certain house to which he 
was directed, and saw there a weather-beaten man, 
roughly dressed and actively at work in the yard. An 
old tarpaulin hat covered his head and around his 
throat was loosely knotted a handkerchief. Taking 
him for a laborer, the man called from his horse: 

" Say, my good fellow, can you tell me if the Hon- 
orable Samuel Tucker lives here ? " 

The workman straightened himself up and cast a 
quizzical glance at the inquirer. 

" Honorable, honorable ! I 've a notion there 's no 
man of that name in Marblehead. You must be look- 
ing for one of the Salem Tuckers. I 'm the only 
Samuel Tucker in this town." 

" I was told to stop at a house standing alone, with 
its gable-end to the sea. This is the only house of that 
kind I've seen." 

" Well, if that 's the case, maybe I 'm the Tucker 
you want, though I don't hitch no ' honorable ' to my 
name. Here I am ; what have you got to say ? " 

" If you 're the man, I 've got a commission for you 
from General Washington to take command of the 
armed schooner ' Franklin,' now building near Boston." 

15 



76 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

" Washington, eh ? Well, I reckon I 'm your man, 
and glad enough to get the chance for a hit at the 
bloody Britishers. Jest walk in, young man, and we '11 
talk it over." 

A true downeaster was Samuel Tucker; rough, 
plain-spoken, with no varnish upon him, yet a bulldog 
of a fighter and a patriotic American of the first grade. 
From boyhood he had served an apprenticeship in 
British war-vessels, yet with the first whisper of a war 
for liberty he made his way home to cast in his lot 
with his countrymen. 

Born at Marblehead in 1747, the son of a ship- 
master, he early acquired a taste for a salt-water career, 
and at eleven years of age ran away from home by 
shipping as cabin boy on the " Royal George " sloop 
of war. He continued partly in the naval and partly 
in the merchant service until 1775, and an anecdote is 
told of him when acting as second mate of a Salem 
merchant ship which shows the mettle of which he 
was made. 

In those days the Mediterranean Sea was infested 
by pirate craft from the Moorish ports of Northern 
Africa, and many a peaceful merchantman was taken 
by them, its cargo plundered, and its crew sold as 
slaves. On Tucker's first voyage from Salem the ship 
he was on was chased by two of these craft, pirate 
corsairs from Algiers. All sail was set, but the brigand 
sea-hounds proved too swift and the ship was rapidly 
overhauled. The crew was in a panic, and the captain 
sought courage in rum, being soon too drunk to handle 
his vessel. 

In this emergency Mate Tucker came to the rescue. 
Taking the helm in his own hands, he put it hard 
down, heading the ship straight for the pirates. They 



HEROES OF THE NAVY Tj 

awaited him, now sure of a capture. But Tucker knew 
what he was about. If less speedy, the Yankee 
schooner was easier to handle than the lateen-sailed 
Algerines, and by skilful steering he got his vessel 
between the two corsairs in such a position that they 
could not fire at him without damage to themselves. 

The Moors made every effort to get out of this 
awkward situation, but Tucker deftly held his place 
between them until night, near at hand, had spread its 
veil of darkness over the scene. Then he slipped away 
and by daylight was safe in port. Such a man was 
Samuel Tucker, of Marblehead, bold, fearless, a skilled 
seaman and able manoeuvrer. 

Having served as an officer in the British navy, he 
was in London when the Revolution began. His cour- 
age and ability were so well known that he was offered 
a commission in either the army or navy, if he was 
ready to serve " his gracious Majesty." 

But Samuel Tucker was an American first of all, 
and this offer roused his Yankee ire. He broke out 
angrily and rudely: "Hang his gracious Majesty! 
Do you think I am the sort of man to fight against 
my country ? " 

Words like these were dangerous in London in those 
days. The report of what he had said stirred up the 
authorities, a charge of treason was laid against him, 
and he had to make hasty flight for safety. For a 
time he was hidden in the house of one of his friends, a 
country inn-keeper. He finally succeeded in getting 
on shipboard and in this way got back to his native 
land. 

Tucker was as well known in America as in Europe 
as an able and experienced seaman, and his services 
were soon in demand. When Washington took com- 



78 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

mand of the army besieging Boston, he found it sadly 
lacking in munitions of war and almost destitute of 
powder. Transports were continually bringing sup- 
plies of this kind to the British in Boston, and he deter- 
mined to divert some of this material to his own use. 
He did not wait for Congress to act, but had several 
small vessels armed and sent out in search of prizes, 
commissioning them as Massachusetts cruisers. Strictly 
speaking, they were privateers. It was for one of these 
that he chose Tucker as captain on the 20th of January, 
1776, and sent him his commision, as stated. 

He could not have chosen a better man. Not content 
to wait for the " Franklin " to be got ready, the impa- 
tient Tucker took command of a small armed schooner 
and set out on a cruise, soon bringing in a British 
transport, laden with such useful material that he 
received the thanks of Washington and the whole 
army. This was but a foretaste of his later work. 
With the " Franklin " and the " Hancock," which he 
later commanded, he swept the seas around Boston, 
capturing and sending in no fewer than thirty prizes 
during the year 1776, one of them " a brigantine from 
Scotland worth fifteen thousand pounds." 

This work was of inestimable advantage to Wash- 
ington. Some of these prizes were taken by a mere 
show of force ; for others he had to fight hard. On one 
occasion, when he attacked and captured two British 
prizes, the battle took place so close to Marblehead 
that the captain's wife and sister, hearing the sound 
of cannon, went to the top of a high hill near by and 
through a spy-glass had the satisfaction of seeing their 
captain fight and win. 

In March, 1777, the value of Captain Tucker's ser- 
vices had become so well recognized that he was put 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 79 

in command of the frigate " Boston," and in this, in 
1778, he had the honor of conveying John Adams to 
France, as envoy from the United States. The voyage 
was one filled with exciting incidents, and Adams did 
not reach France without serious danger of going to 
a British prison instead. 

There were many days of storm, in some of which 
the " Boston " came well nigh being wrecked. At one 
point in the voyage a squadron of three British men- 
of-war was encountered and the " Boston " had to 
make a rapid run for safety. She outsailed two of 
the pursuers, which were soon dropped far behind, 
but the third, a better sailer, kept up the chase and 
pressed her closely. Fortunately night was at hand, 
the wind rose to a gale, and cloud and deep darkness 
settled down on the sea. All night the " Boston " ran 
on, and when morning dawned no British ship was 
in sight. 

A little later a large armed vessel was met, more 
nearly his own match, and Captain Tucker decided to 
fight, notwithstanding his important mission. His dis- 
tinguished passenger was as ready for this as himself, 
and was so full of battle fervor that when the drum 
called the men to quarters he seized a musket and 
joined the ranks of the marines. 

" Come, Mr. Adams, this won't do," said the captain 
earnestly. " I cannot permit you to risk your life and 
must request you to go below." 

Adams listened with a stubborn look and made no 
sign of obeying. Tucker now laid a hand on his shoul- 
der and said firmly: 

" Mr. Adams, I am commanded by the Continental 
Congress to deliver you safe in France. You must go 
below." 



8o HEROES OF THE NAVY 

There was no mistaking the meaning of those words. 
Adams smiled and obeyed. Some accounts of this 
incident, indeed, say that the burly captain picked his 
small passenger up in his arms and carried him bodily 
to a place of safety below, but this is probably an 
imaginative embellishment. 

The fight began with a broadside from the stranger. 
Tucker gave no reply. Other shots came, but still the 
" Boston " kept silent. Some of the old tars beginning 
to grumble, the captain turned to them and said, in 
his quizzical way: 

" Hold on, lads. I want to get that egg without 
breaking the shell." 

Soon gaining the advantageous position he sought, 
he poured a broadside into the enemy that raked her 
from stem to stern. This proved quite sufficient. 
Down came the flag in haste and the egg was taken 
with unbroken shell. Shortly afterwards the envoy 
was safely landed in France. 

In 1779 Tucker took five valuable prizes, and when 
convoying a fleet of merchantmen from Holland with 
supplies for the American forces he captured the 
frigate " Pole." In August of the same year he took 
the sloop-of-war " Thorn." 

Captain Tucker was a born humorist, a man in the 
habit of saying odd and amusing things. He did odd 
things also. Of the various anecdotes told of him we 
may relate the following. So many had been his cap- 
tures, and the British found him so sore a trouble, that 
they made active efforts to put an end to this annoy- 
ance. On one occasion he fell in with a British frigate 
that had been sent out for the express purpose of bring- 
ing him in as a prize. 

As she came up Tucker played the fox, hoisting the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 8i 

British flag. He was hailed by the stranger, and 
replied that he was Captain Gordon, of the British 
navy, and was on a cruise in search of the " Boston," 
commanded by the rebel Tucker. 

" If I can sight his ship I '11 carry him to New York, 
dead or alive." 

" Have you ever seen him? " came the hail. 

" I can't just answer to that, but I 've heard a good 
deal about him. They say he is a tough customer." 

Tucker meanwhile had been deftly handling his 
ship so as to get it into a raking position. He had 
just succeeded when a sailor in the British tops 
excitedly cried: 

" Below there, look out! That is Tucker himself! " 

The shrewd Yankee had got the Englishman into a 
tight place. As they lay the " Boston " had him at a 
great disadvantage and could have swept his decks 
from stem to stern. Recognizing this, the captain 
struck his flag and the ship was taken without a gun 
being fired. 

At the time of the capture of Charleston, in 1780, 
Tucker's ship formed one of the American squadron 
at that city, and he became a prisoner of war. He was 
soon exchanged, however, and,, being without a ship, 
he took command of one of his former prizes, the 
sloop-of-war " Thorn," and went out with her on a 
privateering cruise. After being out several weeks he 
met an English twenty-three-gun ship, which sailed 
up in a belligerent fashion. 

" She means to fight us," said Captain Tucker. 
" She is pretty strong, but if we lay ourselves along- 
side her like men we can take her in thirty minutes. If 
we don't go as men we have no business to go at all. 
I leave it to you, lads. Let every man of you who is 
6 



82 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ready to fight go down the starboard gangway; all 
the others go down the larboard." 

The whole crew went down the starboard. 

Captain Tucker now handled his ship as he had 
promised, and succeeded in laying her side by side 
with the enemy. The firing began, the Englishman 
using his guns with poor effect, the " Thorn " replying 
with a destructive fire. This was kept up for thirty 
minutes, when there came a cry of distress from the 
British deck. 

" Quarter ! For God's sake, quarter ! Our ship 
is sinking. Our men are dying of their wounds." 

" How can you expect quarter while your flag is 
flying?" demanded Tucker. 

" Our halliards are shot away." 

" Then cut away your ensign staff, or you '11 all be 
dead men." 

This was done and the firing ceased. The English 
had suffered severely, more than a third of the crew 
being dead and wounded, while the deck was crimson 
with blood. 

A turn in the tide of Captain Tucker's good fortune 
came in July, 1781, when his vessel was taken near the 
mouth of the St. Lawrence by the British frigate 
" Hind." It was the first time he had been beaten in 
a fight, and then only by being heavily overmatched. 
Held prisoner on Prince Edward Island, he escaped 
and made his way to Boston. From there he apolo- 
gized by letter to the officer who had held him in charge 
and at his own request was paroled. 

After the war Congress gave special thanks to Cap- 
tain Tucker for his valuable services. For a number 
of years afterwards he was occupied in convoying 
packets from the United States to Bremen, and in 1792 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 83 

settled down in Maine as a fanner. The year 181 3 
found him again on the deck of a war vessel, he mak- 
ing a brilliant capture of the privateer " Crown," 
which had been harassing the coast of Maine. 

But age was now bearing upon Captain Tucker and 
he retired from the service, subsequently residing in 
Massachusetts, where he held several important public 
posts. He died on the loth of March, 1833. 



JOSHUA BARNEY AND THE CAPTURE OF 
THE "GENERAL MONK" 

Joshua Barney, famous especially for his brilliant 
exploit in Delaware Bay at the close of the Revolu- 
tion, was a native of Baltimore, in which city he was 
bom on June 6, 1759. Like many of our naval heroes, 
he was trained from boyhood upon the sea, leaving 
school and taking to the life of a mariner at ten years 
of age. There was an incident in his early life much 
like one in that of Paul Jones. On his last voyage to 
Italy the captain died, and Barney, the only one on 
board who understood navigation, took his place, 
carrying the vessel safe to port and back home again. 
He was then less than seventeen years old. 

When the first American naval squadron was fonned 
there was added to it a ten-gun sloop called the " Hor- 
net," and an eight-gun schooner, the " Wasp." Barney 
served in both of these, beginning his career as mas- 
ter's mate of the " Hornet," in which he saw some 
active service as a member of Commodore Hopkins's 
fleet. The most important work done by this fleet was 
the capture of New Providence, in the Bahama Islands, 
and the bringing away from there of a hundred cannon 
and a large quantity of military stores. 

Barney was subsequently transferred to the " Wasp," 
and in the fight of the latter with the brig " Tender " 
he behaved so gallantly that he was promoted lieu- 
tenant. His first command was the temporary one of 
the little sloop " Sachem," with which he captured a 
British privateer. A period of ill-fortune followed. 
84 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 85 

Put in charge of his prize, he was captured while 
bringing it in and was imprisoned in the terrible prison- 
ship " Jersey," a veritable inferno, whose inmates were 
treated so barbarously that few of them survived. 
Barney fortunately succeeded in gaining his release. 
He afterwards served on the " Andrea Doria," and was 
an officer of this vessel in the West India cruise in 
which she captured the" Racehorse," as already related. 

After this adventure the young mariner went out as 
captain of a merchant vessel, which was armed for 
safety, and in Barney's hands made excellent use of its 
cannon. Chased by a British war-vessel, the " Rose- 
bud," of sixteen guns, he escaped in an original man- 
ner. Loading one of his cannon with a crowbar, he 
fired this new kind of cannon-ball at the " Rosebud " 
when within gunshot distance. The missile, whirling 
through the air, struck the sails of the British craft, 
tearing them to rags, and finally hit and cut a big slice 
out of the foremast. The " Rosebud " had had its 
petals well plucked, and Barney's vessel sailed unmo- 
lested away. 

In 1778 he was made first officer of the " Virginia," 
a twenty-eight-gun frigate, recently built and destined 
to quick misfortune. While on her way down the 
Chesapeake at night she ran aground on a shoal. The 
next morning two British warships appeared near by 
and the " Virginia " was doomed. In her position it 
was hopeless to attempt to fight, and Captain Nichol- 
son, who was in charge of some very important papers, 
deemed it his duty to save these rather than to stand 
by his vessel. He and his crew took to the boats and 
rowed ashore, abandoning their vessel to the foe. 
Nicholson was afterwards cleared of blame in this 
matter by a Congressional investigation. 



86 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

All do not seem to have escaped from the " Vir- 
ginia," for we are told that Lieutenant Barney was 
captured and remained a prisoner for five months 
before he was exchanged. His later career was a some- 
what checkered one. As second officer of a privateer, 
in 1779, he helped to take and bring to Philadelphia a 
valuable prize, but he was again captured soon after- 
wards and held prisoner until a second time exchanged. 

He was now assigned as a lieutenant to the sloop- 
of-war " Saratoga," and during his next cruise was 
put in charge of a boarding party which attacked the 
British ship " Charming Molly." Though the ship's 
crew outnumbered his party three to one, his attack 
was so impetuous that she was captured and was put 
under Barney as prize-master. The result was scarcely 
to his liking. On their way in they were overhauled 
and taken, and for the fourth time the brave Barney 
was a prisoner of war. 

He was taken to New York, and after a period of 
detention there was sent to England. Like others of 
whom we have spoken, he succeeded here in escaping, 
and though a price was set on his head by the prison 
authorities he kept out of their clutches, finally mak- 
ing his way back to his own country. 

We now come to the most famous event in Joshua 
Barney's career. Hitherto he had been acting in a 
subordinate capacity and had chiefly reflected glory of 
which to boast. We have now to tell how, as captain 
of the " Hyder Ali," he figured in a famous event and 
made the final prize in the naval war of the Revolution. 

The " Hyder Ali " was not in the naval service of 
the country, but was a merchant ship bought by Penn- 
sylvania and fitted out as a state cruiser. It was not 
adapted in build to serve as a warship, but the state 



I 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 87 

was in immediate need of a convoy for a fleet of mer- 
chantmen waiting to sail, so eight gunports were cut 
on either side of the ship and sixteen six-povinder can- 
non mounted, her crew numbering one hundred and 
ten men. Such was the vessel of which Barney was 
appointed captain on the 8th of April, 1782, the fleet of 
merchantmen being put under his charge. 

It was a service not without danger, even at that 
late period of the war. The lower waters of Delaware 
Bay were apt to be infested by British cruisers, and 
here the chief peril lay. On reaching the vicinity of 
Cape May, Barney saw that serious work was laid 
out for him. Before him in the lower waters of the bay 
loomed up three British warships, the frigate " Que- 
bec," the sixteen-gun brig " Fair American," and the 
" General Monk," a sloop-of-war, carrying sixteen 
twelve-pounders and two long six-pounders. 

In face of such a fleet the " Hyder Ali " was like 
a dove before a hawk. Captain Barney saw that there 
was no safety for his merchantmen except in flight, and 
signalled them to make their way at full speed up the 
bay. They obeyed, scattering like a flock of frightened 
birds, with the exception of one, under a foolhardy 
captain, who fancied that by hugging the land he could 
escape the cruisers and get safely to sea. He paid 
for his daring by his vessel becoming a British prize. 

The " Hyder Ali " sailed up the bay in the rear of 
the fleeing merchantmen and the squadron of warships 
came hotly on his track, the frigate taking a side chan- 
nel with the idea that it would prove a short cut by 
which the fugitives could be headed oflF. Captain 
Barney saw this movement with delight. He knew the 
nature of that " short cut," and that the " Quebec " 
would soon find itself in shoal water. Before it could 



88 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

turn back on its course and reach open water again he 
would have ample time to deal with its consorts. 

On came the other two, the " Fair American," a 
swift-footed privateer, well in the lead. Barney put 
his ship in fighting trim and awaited her, expecting a 
battle, but the privateer was out for prizes rather than 
glory, and sailed by with a harmless broadside, chasing 
the fleeing merchantmen and leaving the sloop-of-war 
to deal with their convoy. Barney let him pass. The 
" General Monk " was coming up at a quick gait and 
was quite enough for him to take in hand as it carried 
double his weight of metal. 

The keen-witted American prepared for the coming 
fight in a shrewd manner. Marshalling his officers and 
men, he said to them : 

" I want you to go opposite to any orders I may give. 
If I tell you to prepare for boarding you must under- 
stand that you are to stay at your guns and fire at 
the word. If I order you to give a broadside you 
must get ready for boarding." To the helmsman he 
said : "HI tell you to port your helm you are to 
put it hard-a-starboard. Do you understand?" 

" Aye, aye ! " answered the tar. 

Thus instructed, the men awaited the moment for 
action. Up came the sloop-of-war, her captain fancy- 
ing that he was going to make an easy prize, as the 
" Fair American " had been allowed to pass without a 
shot. When within hailing distance he cried : 

" Strike your colors, or I will fire." 

The two vessels were now scarcely a dozen yards 
apart. 

" Hard a-port your helm ! Do you want her to run 
aboard us ? " roared Barney to his helmsman. 

The order was heard on board the enemy, whose 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 89 

captain gave orders to meet the expected movement. 
But the seaman put his hehn hard a-starboard, as 
directed, and the " Hyder AH " swung round in front 
of the enemy, the jibboom of the " General Monk " 
catching in her fore rigging, where it remained entan- 
gled during the sliort action that followed. 

Barney had gained a raking position, in which it 
was not necessary to give his men special orders, 
and in a moment they poured in a broadside that 
swept the deck of the enemy from stem to stern. 
This was kept up as fast as they could load and fire, 
while the British captain, unable to get out of his 
awkward position, was able to do little damage with 
his guns. In less than a half-hour more than twenty 
broadsides were fired, scarcely a shot missing its mark. 
The " Monk " was helpless and down came the proud 
British flag. Twenty men had been killed and thirty- 
three wounded in the brief fight, while Barney's ship 
had only four killed and eleven wounded. 

In its way this was a capture of signal importance, 
for the " Monk " had been a highly troublesome 
enemy of the Americans, having taken no fewer than 
sixty prizes within two years. Barney did not even 
wait to ask her name, but put a prize crew on board 
and told them to make the best of their way to Phila- 
delphia. His victory had been gained none too soon, 
for the frigate was making all haste to get into deep 
water again and take a hand in the game. 

The prow of the " Hyder Ali " was now turned 
toward the " Fair American," but the privateer cap- 
tain had seen the fate of his consort and had no taste 
for that sort of fighting, so he put about to slip away 
by the inshore route. As a result he soon ran aground. 
He would have been an easy prize, but for the " Que- 



90 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

bee," which had now got out of the side channel and 
was coming up under full sail. One broadside from 
the guns of the frigate would have settled matters for 
good for the " Hyder Ali," and Barney prudently 
took to flight. Fortunately his ship was a swift sailer 
and soon showed a broad space of open water between 
herself and her big pursuer. 

When the cruiser and her prize reached wharf at 
Philadelphia the staid people of the Quaker City had a 
realization of the horrors of war such as had never 
before met their eyes. The ships came in as they had 
left the fight, with all its sanguinary marks upon them. 
Rent and tattered sails, torn and severed cordage, split 
and shattered bulwarks, and deeply blood-stained 
decks told a terrible tale, while the dead still lay, torn 
and dismembered, where they had fallen, and the 
wounded bled and groaned below. Captain Barney 
had won the last and one of the most signal naval 
battles of the war, and had gained for himself a high 
standing among the naval commanders of the young 
Republic. 

His services were recognized and rewarded, Penn- 
sylvania presenting him with a gold-hilted sword and 
Congress making him a commodore. He continued 
in the naval service, still a very young man, he being 
only twenty-two years of age when he captured the 
" General Monk." Assigned to the frigate " Washing- 
ton," he cruised in the West Indies, and in the autumn 
of 1782 was sent to France with despatches for Dr. 
Franklin. On his return he brought back news of 
the signing of a preliminary treaty of peace. 

Engaging in business in Baltimore in 1793, he went 
with Monroe to France in 1794, and while there car- 
ried the American flag to the National Convention. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 91 

He joined the French navy in 1795 and commanded 
a squadron in the West Indies, resigning in 1800 and 
returning to his native city. 

When the second war with Great Britain came on 
in 1812 Barney was still a hale man of middle age, 
being fifty-three years old. He immediately took part, 
beginning his work as captain of the privateer schooner 
" Rossie," of fourteen guns and one hundred and 
twenty men. The " Rossie " was a light-footed craft, 
well fitted to run away from too strong an enemy, 
though running was not to Barney's taste. He found 
plenty to do. In a forty-five-days' cruise he captured 
fourteen vessels. On going to sea again a month later 
he found the waters infested widi British frigates, 
and had often to show his skill in running. Yet he 
succeeded in taking fresh prizes, one of them giving 
him an hour's fight. The vessels and cargoes taken 
by him were estimated as worth nearly $3,000,000, 
though much of this wealth went to the ocean depths, 
several of his prizes being sunk. 

In the next year (1813) he was given the command 
of a fleet of gunboats in Chesapeake Bay, but there 
was very little for him to do until June of the follow- 
ing year, when the British ascended that inland sea 
in some force. On the ist of June he went in pursuit 
of two British schooners, but before he could overtake 
them a stiff breeze from the south made such a swell 
that the gunboats had to retreat. The schooners fol- 
lowed and attacked, but were beaten off by a hot fire 
from the gunboats. On the 7th the British force in 
Mie bay was strengthened by a sloop-of-war and a 
razee — a line-of-battle ship with her upper deck cut 
off. This reduced her to the dimensions of a frigate, 
but one with heavy timbers and a superior weight 



92 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

of metal, she being usually made a fast ship, as a 
result of her lightening. 

Commodore Barney's flotilla was now in the Patux- 
ent River, a branch of the Potomac, and here on the 
8th a fleet of ships and barges came up to scout for 
the Yankees. Barney retreated two miles upstream to 
get in water too shallow for the frigate's deep draught, 
and then anchored his boats in a line across the 
mouth of St. Leonard's Creek. Here he was attacked 
by a strong force of barges, twenty-two in number, 
accompanied by two schooners, the whole manned 
by 800 men. Barney's force consisted of thirteen 
barges and 500 men. 

A sharp encounter took place, continuing much of 
the day, the enemy meeting with far the greater losses. 
They then converted the siege into a blockade and 
began to plunder the surrounding country, carrying 
off what they desired and burning the remainder. 
Reinforcements were now sent to Commodore Barney 
and another sharp engagement took place on tlie 26th, 
the result being the withdrawal of the enemy. 

In August the British returned in much greater 
force, bringing an army for the projected movement 
on Washington and Baltimore. Their approach cre- 
ated a flurry at Washington and panicky orders were 
sent to Barney to burn his boats and come to the 
defence of the capital. This was a hasty and ill- 
advised order, and Barney obeyed it greatly against 
his will, afterwards leading his men, about four hun- 
dred in number, to join a force gathering for the 
defence of Washington. 

In the land fighting that ensued Commodore Barney 
and his men did the best fighting of any body of men 
on the ground, but he received a severe wound that 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 93 

brought his fighting clays to an end. Had he been 
given a really efficient force in the Chesapeake, the 
capture and burning of Washington could have been 
averted, the lack of preparation there being a flagrant 
example of the manner in which the land part of that 
war was generally conducted. Commodore Barney 
lived for several years afterwards, being naval officer 
at Baltimore in 1817. He subsequently set out on a 
western trip to take up some land he had purchased, 
and died on the journey, December 8, 1818. 



THOMAS TRUXTON, PRIVATEER AND 
VICTOR IN THE WAR WITH 

FRANCE i 

The chief fame of Thomas Truxton was gained in 
1799 and 1800, during the naval war with France in 
those years, but he was also a leading spirit among 
the Yankee privateers of the Revolution, and gave 
the British naval establishment no small amount of 
trouble by his daring and success. He and his fellow- 
privateers swept the seas to such an extent that dur- 
ing the war the prizes numbered more than 700, of 
which 559, valued at some $13,000,000, were brought 
into port. Of one fleet of sixty vessels from Ireland 
for the West Indies, thirty-five were captured by pri- 
vateers. And in this active work the dashing Truxton 
bore a full share. 

Born at Jamaica, Long Island, on the 7th of Feb- 
ruary, 1755, and brought up in sight of salt water / 
and smell of salt air, he early developed an appetite 
for the sea and began his ocean career at twelve years 
of age, serving for years on merchant vessels and Brit- 
ish warships. In 1775, at the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution, being then twenty years of age and captain 
of a merchant vessel, his vessel was seized while he 
was transporting gunpowder to the colonies and its 
cargo confiscated. 

Reaching Philadelphia with a desire to repay him- 
self for his loss, he became lieutenant of the privateer 
" Congress," and sailed in her to the West Indies, 
where he took part in the capture of several valuable 
94 



i 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 95 

prizes. In June, 1777, he was made captain of the 
ten-gun privateer " Independence," and made a cruise 
to the Azores, where he took a number of small prizes, 
and later on had the good fortune to fall in with a 
large convoy from the Windward Islands. Frigates 
protected the fleet, but Truxton boldly dashed in and 
succeeded in cutting out three large vessels, one of 
them being better armed and manned than his own 
craft. Its strength was of little avail against the onset 
of a daring seadog like Truxton. 

On his return to port with his prizes Truxton took 
command of the " Andrew Caldwell " and afterwards 
fitted out a new privateer, the " Mars," arming her 
with twenty-four guns, and now sought a field of peril, 
but one likely to be rich in spoil, the English Channel. 
Here were prizes galore for the bold privateer, and 
he picked them up in gratifying numbers, sending so 
many to Quiberon Bay that his captures " in a great 
measure laid the foundation of Lord Stormont's 
remonstrance to the French court, against the admis- 
sion into her ports of our armed vessels and cruisers." 
This remonstrance was not heeded, there being at that 
time a growing hostility between Great Britain and 
France which was soon after to develop into open war, 

Truxton afterward occupied himself in a wholesale 
fashion, fitting and sending out privateers from Phila- 
delphia, which captured numerous prizes and brought 
in supplies of great value to the army. Being subse- 
quently deputized to carry Consul-General Thomas 
Barclay to France in the " St. James " privateer, a 
twenty-gun vessel, he met on the way a thirty-two- 
gun ship, carrying double his number of men. This 
ship had been sent out from New York with the 
express purpose of intercepting and capturing him. 



96 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

but sadly failed in its mission. A sharp fight ensued, 
in which Truxton handled his strong antagonist so 
severely that it decided to let him alone. 

The following anecdote is told of this encounter: 
A ball from the British ship passed through the side 
of the " St. James " and lodged in her mainmast. The 
story goes that " A fine forecastle hand named Jack 
Sutton, perceiving the ball the moment it struck the 
mast, seized it, ran with it to a gunner, and said: 
* Here, gunner, take this shot, write post-paid upon it, 
and send it back to the rascals,' which the gunner lost 
no time in doing." 

On his return home Truxton brought the most val- 
uable cargo received at any American port during 
the war. 

This homeward journey was made in the ship 
" Commerce," a vessel armed with fourteen guns and 
carrying fifty men. On his way he met with a British 
brig of superior strength, and a fight ensued lasting 
some twenty minutes. Then a frigate came in view 
and Truxton hoisted sail and took to flight. In the 
fight he had one man killed and two wounded, while 
the British loss amounted to thirty-eight. 

Truxton continued thus engaged throughout the 
Revolution, taking no command in the regular naval 
service, but doing work of the utmost usefulness as a 
privateer captain. When the war ended he engaged 
in the maritime mercantile traffic, trading with Europe, 
China and the East Indies, and spending much of his 
time upon the seas until 1794, when the re-establish- 
ment of the navy was ordered, and Truxton was 
among the captains appointed by President Washing- 
ton to the new ships ordered to be built. 

These embraced six frigates, the " Constitution," 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 97 

the " President," and the " United States," sister- 
ships of forty-four g-uns each, and the " Chesapeake," 
the " Congress," and the " Constellation," of thirty- 
six guns each. Truxton was appointed to the '* Con- 
stellation " and directed to superintend its building. 

These vessels were ordered to be built on designs 
furnished by Joshua Humphreys, a Philadelphia 
Quaker, but a shipbuilder of thirty years' experience 
and the ablest in his craft in the United States. His 
doctrine was that our ships ought to be fast enough 
to fight or run at will, and strong enough to be equal 
to any ship afloat. With this in view, he proposed 
that they should be made longer and broader than 
the prevailing type, but not so high out of the water. 
On this model, he said, they could carry as many guns 
on one deck as other ships did on two, and fight them 
to better advantage, while their form would give them 
staunchness in the water and enable them to carry a 
greater spread of canvas, thus giving them superior 
speed. The correctness of this theory was abundantly 
proved in the subsequent naval wars of the United 
States, Humphreys's theory being long followed in 
the building of American war vessels. 

One of these wars was near at hand. The revolu- 
tionary Republic of France, in its desperate struggle 
with the hostile powers of Europe, began to play havoc 
with the American merchant trade, capturing and con- 
fiscating many American vessels laden with mer- 
chandise not contraband of war, on the simple plea 
that they were bound to ports of nations at war with 
France. 

The depredations by French ships on our commerce 
became so serious that in 1798 the American gov- 
ernment determined to put a stop to them, declared 
7 



98 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

all treaties with France abrogated, and, without declar- 
ing war, authorized its cruisers " to capture any 
French vessel found near the coast preying upon 
American commerce." This authorization stirred up 
many of the old tars of the Revolution, and numbers 
of men who had smelt powder in the late war came 
forward to man the warships of the nation. Even 
before the treaties were abrogated the " Constella- 
tion " had set sail, with Truxton in command, and 
with her the " Delaware," under Stephen Decatur, 
father of the famous sea hero of the same name. They 
began their work off the capes of Delaware Bay, find- 
ing there the French ship " Croyable," which was 
known to have taken several American ships. She 
was at once seized and sent in as a first warning to 
France that this business must stop. 

The " Constellation " made the West India waters 
her cruising ground, and here, on the 9th of February, 
1799, while bowling along before a stiff breeze 
between the islands of Nevis and St. Kitts, the look- 
out aloft reported a sail to leeward. The wind was 
fresh from the northeast, and, spreading studding 
sails, the good ship bore swiftly down before it, Trux- 
ton having an idea that this might be one of the craft 
of which he was in search. 

But just as they had caught the wind in their broad 
spread of canvas a black squall struck the ship, and "all 
hands to shorten sail " was the cry. The crew were 
quick to recognize the peril and stripped the ship with 
nervous haste, in time to save her spars ; but the other 
ship was less alert and when the squall had passed 
it was seen that her maintopmast had gone by the 
board. She had changed her course and was now 
heading for the port of St. Eustatius. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 99 

Spreading sail again, the " Constellation " was soon 
close up, her flag afloat in the breeze. The other ship 
responded by hoisting the American colors, but when 
a private signal was shown no answer came. Soon 
after she hauled down the Stars and Stripes and sent 
up the French standard, firing a gun in defiance. 

On came the " Constellation," furling her upper 
sails as she bowled along. The enemy hailed as she 
came near, but no reply was made. The hail was 
repeated when the ships were about ten yards apart 
and Truxton's reply was now given in a broadside. 

The Frenchman instantly returned the fire and his 
helm was shoved hard down. His purpose was to 
luff up ya'rd arm to yard arm and board his antag- 
onist. In this was hope for victory, for his ship 
swarmed with men, at least a hundred more than the 
" Constellation " carried. 

Truxton saw his design and was quick to evade it, 
easily escaping the crippled Frenchman, crossing his 
bows and raking him as he passed. His starboard 
battery now came in play, and he continued his broad- 
sides until his superior sailing power again carried 
him ahead of the French cruiser, when he crossed her 
bows and raked her a second time. 

The fight continued for some minutes longer, 
though the Frenchman had by this time all the eigh- 
teen-pounders on his main deck dismounted and had 
only his twelve-pounders left. But he fought pluckily 
on until the " Constellation " once more drew ahead 
and prepared a third time to cross his bows and rake 
him. The fight had now grown hopeless and the 
French flag came down. 

The prize proved to be the " Insurgent," Captain 
Barreaut, a ship which had been cruising in those 



loo HEROES OF THE NAVY 

waters for several months, much to the detriment of 
the American West India trade. The " Constellation " 
was the stronger in weight of metal, tliough weaker in 
men, and the accident to the Frenchman gave the 
American the advantage in sailing power. Captain 
Barreaut fought pluckily, but his gunnery was infe- 
rior, for the " Constellation " lost but five men in 
killed and wounded, while the " Insurgent " lost sev- 
enty. The strict discipline on the " Constellation " is 
shown by the fact that one of the men killed was shot 
by Lieutenant Sterrett for deserting his post. 

The later story of the " Insurgent " was one of 
immense credit to the men of the " Constellation," 
Lieutenant John Rodgers and Midshipman David 
Porter, with eleven men, were sent on board to super- 
intend the transfer of prisoners, but while doing so 
the wind freshened to hurricane force, and the ships 
were blown asunder with 173 of the Frenchmen still 
on board their own ship. This was a serious situa- 
tion for the thirteen men of the prize crew, yet on 
the third day afterwards they brought their charge 
safely into St. Kitts, where Truxton, with the " Con- 
stellation," anxiously awaited them. 

The thirteen had at once the gale to fight and the 
captives to guard, while all the hatch-gratings, shack- 
les and handcufifs had been thrown overboard after 
striking colors. Fortunately the Frenchmen had no 
officers and no resolute leaders and suffered themselves 
to be driven below the hatches, at each of which one 
armed man was stationed, with orders to shoot any 
one who sought to come up. Thus, without sleep or 
rest, they worked th€ ship and guarded their prisoners 
for three nights and two days, and in the end brought 
them safely in, an almost unprecedented feat. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY loi 

The capture of the " Insurgent " excited great 
attention, and Truxton was warmly commended 
throughout Europe for his act. England, the great 
enemy of France, was especially gratified, and the 
merchants of Lloyd's Coffee House presented him 
with a service of plate worth 600 guineas, handsomely 
engraved with a picture of the action between the two 
ships. 

During the remainder of that year Truxton helped 
to clear the West Indies of privateers and buccaneers, 
and on the 2d of February, 1800, he had a second 
battle with a French man-of-war. on more even terms 
than the former one. In fact, in this fight the French 
ship, the " Vengeance," was considerably the stronger, 
but Truxton compelled her to fight and in the end 
forced her to yield. 

It was on a Sunday night that the two ships came 
together, the " Constellation " overtaking the '' Venge- 
ance "" only after a long chase, for the Frenchman 
had sought to escape. As he drew up on the weather 
quarter of the enemy he ordered strict silence among 
his men until he gave them the word. He then hailed 
the " Vengeance," which replied with a broadside, 
some of the balls taking effect. 

The " Constellation " continued to draw ahead 
without a shot or a sound, while the guns of the 
" Vengeance " kept up their work. The strain on the 
men, who were kept waiting at their guns, grew 
almost unbearable, as they stood in grim silence, but 
Truxton sternly ordered them to keep to their posts 
until they got tlie word and bade them then to aim at 
the hull, to load with all speed, but not to fire hastily 
or without careful aim. 

The time at length came. The ship had reached 



I02 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the wished-for position. He gave the word and the 
guns went off with one general crash, shrieks and 
death cries from the enemy telHng of the havoc 
wrought. The men obeyed orders, loading quickly, 
but not firing a gun without deliberate care, the pieces 
growing so heated by the rapid work that water had 
to be poured on them to cool them off. At midnight 
the fire of the enemy, which had been decreasing, 
ceased entirely and the victory seemed won. In fact, 
it is said that their flag had been lowered twice during 
the fight, but the thick smoke blinded the gunners 
and the American fire compelled the French gun 
crews to go to their pieces again. 

As it was, the battle ended none too soon for the 
" Constellation," for her main standing rigging had 
been completely shot away. The captain called all 
hands to send up preventers, but before they could 
do their work the mast fell, carrying overboard Mid- 
shipman James Jarvis and a number of men, all but 
one of whom were lost. Jarvis might easily have 
escaped, but with a fine sense of discipline he kept to 
his post till the mast went, facing death in the interest 
of duty. Recent writers have held up this action of 
young Jarvis as a splendid example of American 
heroism, and justly so. 

The loss of her mainmast robbed the " Constella- 
tion " of her prize, the " Vengeance " taking the oppor- 
tunity of her crippling to slip away in the darkness 
and make harbor at Curasao. She had i6o killed and 
wounded, while the loss on the " Constellation " was 
less than forty. 

There were other fights, between vessels of smaller 
calibre, during this brief undeclared war, but Truxton 
had the credit of fighting the two important battles 




THE " constellation" AND THE " VENGEANCF" 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 103 

and of winning in both. The trouble ended in a treaty 
of peace between America and France, which was 
ratified by the United States Senate, February 3, 1801, 
just a year after Truxton's last fight. 

Congress honored him with a gold medal, and he 
was soon after transferred to the " President " and 
promoted to commodore, in command of the West 
India squadron. In 1802 he was put at the head of 
the expedition against Tripoli. As such he asked for 
a captain for his flagship, a common practice in later 
years, but the democratic President Jefferson con- 
strued the demand as a step towards introducing aris- 
tocratic conditions in the navy. He therefore dropped 
Truxton's name from the naval list. Truxton's later 
life was passed in part on a New Jersey farm and in 
part in Philadelphia, of which he was Sheriff 1816-19. 
He died there May 5, 1822. 



EDWARD PREBLE AND THE WAR WITH 
THE BASHAW; QF TRIPOLI 

England showed a bitterly revengeful spirit against 
Paul Jones for his raid on Whitehaven and on Lord 
Selkirk's castle, defaming him as a pirate, offering a 
reward for his head, and threatening to hang him if 
captured. In doing this she conveniently ignored the 
fact that one of her own captains, acting strictly under 
orders, had done a far more outrageous deed without 
a word of reprobation on the part of the British 
authorities. This was the bombardment and destruc- 
tion by fire of the town of Falmouth, Maine, by Cap- 
tain Mowat, in revenge for the acts of the privateers, 
a thousand unoffending men, women and children 
having their homes burned to ashes at the beginning 
of the freezing Maine winter for acts with which they 
had nothing to do. 

It was a barbarous deed, one of which Paul Jones 
would doubtless have been incapable, and, like all such 
deeds, it did far more harm than good to its perpe- 
trators, since it inspired the colonists with indignation 
and revengeful feeling and roused them to sterner 
efforts to win their liberty. The women and children 
of Falmouth — Portland, as it is now named — were 
forced to take refuge from the late October chill in 
hastily constructed huts of bark and brush, and among 
these fugitives was a lad of fourteen, named Edward 
Preble, who was afterwards to make himself a name 
among the able naval commanders of the United 
States. 
104 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 105 

Born in Falmouth on the 15th of August, 1761, and 
brought up in that busy Maine seaport, young Preble 
was still a schoolboy when his native town was 
destroyed. He early developed an inclination for the 
sea, which grew so strong that to prevent him from 
running away from school to ship's deck his father 
put him as ship's boy on one of the vessels of the 
Massachusetts state navy, which were sent out at the 
suggestion of General Washington to do privateer 
duty on the New England coast, and supply the army 
at the cost of its enemies with greatly needed muni- 
tions of war. 

The youthful seaman saw some active service in 
this field of duty, and in 1779 was made a midshipman 
on the twenty-gun ship " Protector," under Captain 
John Williams, one of the most daring of the privateer 
captains. In June the " Protector " met the British 
privateer " Admiral Dufif," a ship in all respects her 
equal, and for an hour the two ships fought, yard arm 
to yard arm, the combat ending in the British vessel 
blowing up. Of her crew only fifty-five men were 
picked up. On its return from this cruise the " Pro- 
tector " tried conclusions with the frigate " Thames," 
of thirty-two guns, and after a running fight forced 
her to draw off. 

During a second cruise the " Protector " met her 
fate, she being taken and her crew made prisoners. 
Young Preble, still only a boy of eighteen, was for a 
time confined in the " Jersey " prison ship at New 
York, but was soon released. Returning to Massachu- 
setts and reporting the loss of the ship to the Legis- 
lature, he was promoted first lieutenant, and in 1781 
was made second in command of the " Winthrop." 

This gave him his first opportunity for an inde- 



io6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

pendent exploit, he being sent at the head of fourteen 
men to attack a British ship lying in the harbor of 
Castine, Maine, and protected against direct assault 
by land batteries. The exploit was a daring and des- 
perate one, but young Preble achieved it successfully. 
He boarded and captured the ship and took her safely 
out under a severe cannonade from the land batteries, 
carrying her to Boston and handing her over to the 
authorities. 

This was Preble's chief personal exploit during 
the war, which soon afterwards ended, but it was one 
that gave him great credit. He continued at sea for 
many years afterwards, engaged in the merchant 
service. In 1798 he was appointed a lieutenant in the 
reconstructed naval establishment, and in January of 
the following year was put in command of the brig 
" Pickering," which was occupied on scouting duty. 
His appointment to a captaincy came on May 15, 
1799, when he was assigned to the thirty-six-gun 
frigate " Essex " and sent on a cruise to China and 
the East Indies for the protection of American ship- 
ping in those waters. On his return he convoyed home 
a fleet of fourteen merchant vessels from Batavia. 

In June, 1803, Preble was appointed commodore of 
the Mediterranean squadron, which had been in those 
waters for two years under Commodore Dale, engaged 
in an unsuccessful effort to put an end to the piracy of 
the Moors. Taking the frigate " Constitution " for his 
flagship, Preble proceeded to the Mediterranean, and 
on October 19 went on shore with a small following 
at Tangier, then a nest of pirates, and by his resolute 
bearing secured the release of all captured American 
vessels and renewed the treaty of 1786. For the first 
time the Sultan of Morocco was compelled to respect 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 107 

the United States and to remove all obstructions to 
American commerce. 

He next gave his attention to Tripoli, and here, on 
the 31st of October, a serious disaster happened to 
the American squadron, in the loss of the frigate 
" Philadelphia " and the capture and imprisonment 
of her officers and crew. The story of how, while 
chasing a Tripolitan cruiser, this fine ship ran aground 
in the harbor of Tripoli, within three miles of the city, 
will be told in our sketch of William Bainbridge, her 
captain. We are here concerned only with Preble's 
part in the unfortunate affair, which was an endeavor 
to rob the Tripolitans of their prize. 

Captain Bainbridge, though closely confined in the 
Bashaw's castle, succeeded in conveying a suggestion 
to Preble that, as the " Philadelphia " was hopelessly 
lost to the Americans and as the Tripolitans were 
preparing to make use of her as a war vessel, an effort 
should be made to destroy her. It might be done by 
a party of Americans entering the harbor at night in 
a suitable vessel, firing her, and getting away again. 

Preble accepted the situation. He did not fail to 
recognize the hazardous nature of the project, but suc- 
cess was possible and on this he acted. As for getting 
volunteers to undertake the enterprise, that was not 
difficult, since there was scarcely a young officer in 
the squadron or a seaman in the fleet who would not 
have eagerly taken the risk. The principal appli- 
cants were Lieutenant Charles Stewart, who com- 
manded the brig " Siren," and Lieutenant Stephen 
Decatur, commander of the schooner " Enterprise," 
which had already won fame in those waters. Deca- 
tur was finally chosen, while Stewart, with the 
" Siren," was selected to go with him and be ready 



loS HEROES OF THE NAVY 

to pick up his crew if they should be obHged to take 
to their boats. As regards the details of this daring 
enterprise, which proved in every way successful, 
they must be left for our sketch of Decatur, Preble 
having no concern in it except that he laid out the 
plan and chose a fit man to undertake it. The fame of 
the exploit itself belongs solely to Decatur. 

Though the " Philadelphia " went up in flames, her 
captain and crew still lay in close and severe imprison- 
ment, the Bashaw of Tripoli showing his resentment 
at the loss of his valued prize by confining the men 
of the " Philadelphia " in a cold and damp room in 
his castle, their only light being from an iron grating 
in the ceiling, and keeping them there till he was 
forced to terms by Preble and his ships. 

Eager to obtain the release of Bainbridgc and his 
men, Preble now began a much more vigorous attack 
on Tripoli than it had ever before been subjected to. 
For tliis purpose he prepared a flotilla of gunboats, 
each carrying a long, heavy gun, and two barges, on 
each of which was mounted a thirteen-inch brass mor- 
tar, these loaned him by " his Sicilian Majesty." 

With these a number of attacks were made upon 
the pirate stronghold, the first and most spectacular 
being on the 3d of August, 1804. Six gunboats, in 
two divisions, were sent in to attack the enemy's fleet, 
under the command of two of the most daring young 
officers in the squadron, Stephen Decatur and Richard 
Somers. An account of the desperate fight which took 
place between the first section of these boats and those 
of the Aloors must be reserved for the sketch of Deca- 
tur's career, and it need simply be said here that the 
Tripolitans fought like demons and were overcome 
only after a battle of unexampled ferocity. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 109 

Meanwhile Somers. finding that his boat could not 
follow the inside route taken by Decatur, rounded the 
opposite end of the reef and for a time faced five of 
the Moorish gunboats, his other boats coming up later 
and aiding to put the enemy to flight. Hie result of 
the enterprise was the capture of three Moorish gun- 
boats and the sinking of three others. 

While the gunboat flotilla was doing this good work 
Preble entered the harbor with his flagship, the " Con- 
stitution," and the smaller vessels of the squadron, 
sailing close under and firing on the batteries of the 
enemy, which were several times silenced, and bom- 
barding the city. He failed to silence the batteries 
permanently from the fact that the Bashaw had twenty- 
five thousand soldiers at his command, each battery 
being remounted from this force as soon as the ships 
ceased firing at it. 

Hie admiration of foreigners was excited by the 
admirable handling of the " Constitution," which 
boldly entered the harbor, tacking and making sail 
as neatly as if in a friendly port and firing with the 
precision of ordinary gun practice. And the daring 
and skill of the Americans in a hand-to-hand fight 
were so marked that the Tripolitans afterwards avoided 
any such close personal encounters with them. 

Several other attacks were made on the Moorish 
stronghold, the Bashaw offering terms after each, but 
none of a kind which Preble was ready to accept. 
A variety of incidents took place in these attacks. In 
one of them a heavy shot penetrated the room in the 
castle in which the American prisoners were confined, 
covering Bainbridge with fragments from the wall 
and carrying away the coverings from the bed in 
which he lay. 



no HEROES OF THE NAVY 

On another occasion a hot shot from a shore bat- 
tery penetrated the magazine of one of the gunboats 
and blew it up. Though the bottom of the boat was 
opened and she began rapidly to fill, the men and the 
gun they were loading were not injured, and when the 
smoke cleared away Midshipman Spence and his men 
were seen still at work around their gun. As the boat 
sank they, with three cheers for the flag, fired their last 
shot, with the water lapping around their feet. They 
then sprang overboard, were quickly picked up, and 
at once returned to the work of fighting the enemy. 

The most notable, but most unfortunate, event of 
the siege took place on September 4, in which Master 
Commandant Richard Somers and a number of other 
brave volunteers lost their lives. Commodore Preble, 
" desirous of annoying the enemy by all means," con- 
ceived the perilous project of sending a fireship among 
their shipping. For this the ketch " Intrepid," which 
had been used in the destruction of the " Philadel- 
phia," was employed. Her lading for the enterprise 
consisted of a hundred barrels of gunpowder, a large 
number of shells and a quantity of old iron, while in 
a room well aft a heap of combustibles was placed. 
The plan was to send her in among the Moorish ship- 
ping in the guise of a blockade-runner, then set her 
quick-burning material on fire. From this a train 
led to the magazine, regulated to burn fifteen minutes 
before reaching the powder. This was calculated to 
be time enough to let the crew escape in their boats. 

Volunteers for the dangerous enterprise were 
numerous, Somers being chosen among those who 
offered. He was accompanied by two midshipmen, 
one of whom had smuggled himself on board, and 
ten seamen. The night chosen was a favorable one, a 




THE DANGER OK THE "INTREPID* 



HEROES OF THE NAVY iii 

low fog covering the water and a fair wind filling the 
sails. At 8 o'clock they set out, gliding silently away 
into the gloom. 

Several small cruisers were sent in to pick up the 
fugitives as they came out or cover the retreat of the 
ketch, if necessary, and from the deck of the foremost 
of these, the " Nautilus," she was watched, as well as 
the darkness permitted. Midshipman Ridgeley, with 
the aid of a powerful glass, following her shadowy 
movement between the gunboats that lay in the mouth 
of the harbor. As he continued to look a signal gun 
was fired from the shore, followed quickly by the roar 
of every gun in the batteries on that side of the har- 
bor and a commotion among the gunboats that guarded 
the channel. 

An instant later the sky glared with a lurid outburst 
of flames and a frightful explosion was heard. A 
deafening roar followed and a shock was felt that 
sent a quiver through the ships outside the bar. In 
the next instant came the splash and patter of shells 
and timbers in the water, with cries of fear and dis- 
tress from the city. Then all sounds ceased and abso- 
lute silence reigned. 

That is all that is known of the fate of gallant 
Richard Somers and his daring followers. Whether 
the explosion was designed or was an accident is 
unknown. In vain the American cruisers patrolled 
the channel all night long, firing guns and rockets at 
intervals, in the forlorn hope of rescuing some sur- 
vivor. In the morning one of the enemy's gunboats 
was missing and the Tripolitans were seen hauling 
three others, badly shattered, up the beach. The 
" Intrepid " had utterly disappeared, and with her 
every vestige of her gallant crew, except that a num- 



112 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ber of unrecognizable white bodies were afterwards 
recovered and buried on the beach. 

Immediately after this unfortunate incident Com- 
modore Barron, who had been sent out to relieve 
Preble, reached the squadron. But the work had 
been done, and to Preble belongs the credit. There 
were no further hostilities, though the force was 
increased until the squadron consisted of five frigates 
and as many smaller vessels, with a dozen or more 
gunboats and bomb barges. And the stubbornness of 
the Bashaw was affected also by a rebellion in his 
dominions, the capital of his chief province being cap- 
tured by American aid. The alarmed Bashaw hast- 
ened to offer terms of peace, agreeing to deliver up 
all American prisoners for $60,000 ransom and never 
to trouble American commerce again. These, being 
Preble's original terms, were accepted. The fleet then 
sailed to Tunis and dictated under its guns terms of 
peace to the ruler of that country. In this way Amer- 
ica put an end to the reign of terror which had existed 
in the Mediterranean for centuries. 

Preble's recall was mainly owing to his state of 
health, which was greatly broken. Congress honored 
him for his good work by voting him a gold medal, 
while each of his officers was presented with a sword 
of honor, and a month's extra pay was given each 
man of his crew. After his return home he rapidly 
declined in health. President Jefferson offered him 
the Cabinet position of Secretary of the Navy in 1806, 
but he was too ill to accept it, and he died at Portland, 
his native place, on August 25, 1807. 



WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE, A NAVAL HERO 
OF THREE WARS 

William Bainbridge, a famous commander in the 
war with Tripoli and the later war with Great Britain, 
and who showed his alert Yankee wit in the naval war 
with France, was a native of Princeton, New Jersey, 
where he was born May 7, 1774. He was the first of 
the naval commanders with whom we have to deal 
who took no part in the Revolutionary war, but 
throughout his life he showed himself a true son of 
the sea, shipping before the mast at the age of fifteen 
and continuing in the merchant and naval service 
till his death. 

At the age of eighteen he was first mate on a merchant 
vessel and in his pioneer voyage in this capacity gave 
evidence of his daring and ability. A mutiny broke 
out on the ship, the mutineers seizing the captain and 
being on the point of throwing him overboard when 
they were attacked by Bainbridge and the second 
mate. After a lively fight of short duration they suc- 
ceeded in quelling the mutineers and rescuing the 
captain. Doubtless his readiness on this occasion was 
the cause of his being made captain the next year. 

An incident is told which still more clearly shows 
his character. This took place in 1796, he being then 
captain of the ship " Hope." The British practice of 
boarding American merchantmen and taking from 
them men claimed to be British subjects was then 
growing common, and Bainbridge was subjected to 
this when on his way home from London, his ship 
8 113 



114 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

being boarded by officers from a British warship and 
he compelled to muster his crew. The mate, an 
American, was named McKinsey, and the lieutenant 
decided from his name that he must be a Scotchman. 
At Bainbridge's suggestion McKinsey took refuge 
in a stateroom and with pistols defied the lieutenant, 
who thereupon carried off a common sailor. Bain- 
bridge told the lieutenant as he left that he would 
repay this outrage by taking a man from the next 
British merchantman he met. Five days later he 
met a British brig that had more men than he and 
eight guns to his four, and carried out his threat in 
spite of a stout resistance by the captain of the brig. 

In 1798 Bainbridge was made a lieutenant in the 
new navy and put in command of the " Retaliation." 
This ship had been the French " Croyable," taken ofif 
the Delaware capes by Truxton and sent to Philadel- 
phia, where it was given this new name and sent out 
under the American flag. Its voyage did not prove a 
fortunate one, the French soon gaining possession 
again of their former craft. 

Two consorts sailed with the " Retaliation," the 
" Montezuma " and the " Norfolk," and on the 20th of 
November they came within sight of two small squad- 
rons. They separated to learn the character of these 
vessels, Bainbridge seeking one squadron and his con- 
sorts the other. On coming close up he found that 
he had to deal with two French frigates, the " Insur- 
gent " and the " Voluntaire," each with more than 
double his number of guns. 

To fight would have been madness, and when he 
sought to run he was soon overhauled by the " Insur- 
gent " and forced to surrender. He was taken on 
board the French flagship, the " Voluntaire," while the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 115 

" Insurgent " set out in pursuit of his consorts. The 
French captain courteously declined his sword and 
treated him with civility, permitting him to go to the 
forecastle with the other officers to watch the chase. 

The sight was an inspiring one to the French, 
though hardly so to their captives, for the " Insur- 
gent," with a great spread of canvas, rapidly gained 
on the fleeing Americans. She was nearly close 
enough to open fire when Captain St. Laurent, of the 
" Voluntaire," said to Bainbridgc : 

" Pray, sir, what is the force of those vessels ? " 

" The ship carries twenty-eight twelve-pounders and 
the brig twenty nine-pounders," said Bainbridge, in 
a tone of assurance. 

The answer alarmed St. Laurent. This was a 
strength that outmatched the " Insurgent," which car- 
ried thirty-six guns, and the captain signalled for her 
to return. The " Insurgent " obeyed, though evi- 
dently much against the will of her captain, for when 
he came within hail he cried, in a voice that mani- 
fested some anger: 

" Sir, why did you recall me ? Only for your signal 
I should have had those vessels in ten minutes." 

" You do not know, sir, the strength of the vessels 
you were chasing," replied St. Laurent. " Your ship 
is not strong enough to contend with a force of 
twenty-eight twelve-pounders and twenty nine-pound- 
ers, which those ships carry." 

At this the captain of the " Insurgent " gesticulated 
violently, evidently in a very excited state of mind, 
and he shouted back : 

" Sir, they have nothing heavier than sixes. Do 
you imagine this ship could have anything to fear from 
such guns ? " 



ii6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

St. Laurent turned to Bainbridge and asked him 
angrily : 

" Did you not say, sir, that those ships carried 
twenty-eight twelve-pounders and twenty nine- 
pounders ? " 

" Yes, sir," said Bainbridge, hiding a covert smile ; 
" and if I thought that I could have done more to 
save the ships by telling you that they carried twenty- 
four-pounders I would have cheerfully done so." 

Three months later the " Insurgent " had an oppor- 
tunity to test her strength against the " Constella- 
tion," a vessel of her own strength. In this encounter 
her captain showed himself a good fighter, but he lost 
his ship, as we have already told, to the brave Truxton. 

Bainbridge was taken by his captors to Guade- 
loupe, a French island of the Lesser Antilles, where 
there were already a large number of American cap- 
tives, taken from merchantmen seized by French 
cruisers. Bainbridge's protest against this, and his 
general representation to the governor of the island 
of the illegal acts of the French cruisers, led the latter 
to restore him his ship and to release these men, who 
were brought back by him to the United States. 

Bainbridge was now promoted master and put in 
command of the " Norfolk," with which he cruised in 
the West Indies, and on October 8 captured the French 
lugger " Republican." He was transferred to a new 
field of duty in the following year. For twenty years 
before that time the United States had been paying 
tribute to Algiers, on the condition that the corsairs 
of that state would not molest our commerce. Other 
nations similarly paid tribute, on the plea that it was 
cheaper to do so than to keep fleets in the Mediter- 
ranean. Against this insolence of the Barbary states 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 117 

Captain Bainbridge was one of the first to show a 
spirit of rebellion. 

In May, 1800, he was put in command of the 
" George Washington " and sent with the annual 
tribute to Algiers. This was paid much against his 
will, and when the Dey of Algiers bade him to carry 
an embassy to Constantinople with tribute to the sultan 
he refused to do so, saying that this was no work for 
American ships. The Dey replied that the Americans 
were his slaves, since they paid him tribute, and they 
therefore must do as he ordered. On the advice of the 
American consul Bainbridge at length consented, but 
indignantly expressed the hope that the next tribute 
he delivered would be from the mouths of his cannon. 
He proceeded, however, to Constantinople, where he 
was the first to show the American flag and was very 
well received. 

Trouble with Tripoli broke out in the following 
year, the ruler of that country complaining that we 
did not send him as much tribute as was due him. 
He went so far as to declare war against the United 
States. This act precipitated the contest that put an 
end to the exactions of these piratical states. 

On May 20, 1801, a " squadron of observation," 
under Captain Dale, was ordered to the Mediter- 
ranean, Bainbridge going with it in command of the 
" Essex." Dale's instructions prevented him from 
taking any very effective measures, but in 1803 Com- 
modore Preble was sent to command the squadron 
and was given much more freedom to act. In the 
new squadron Bainbridge was put in command of 
the frigate " Philadelphia," and as such soon found 
himself the victim of a serious disaster and a captive 
in the hands of the Bashaw of Tripoli. 



ii8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The " Philadelphia " had been placed on blockade 
duty off the harbor of the Tripolitan capital, and near 
the end of October was driven from her station by a 
furious gale. She returned on the morning of the 31st. 
The brig " Vixen," which had aided her in the block- 
ade, was not in sight, the only vessel visible being a 
corsair, that was stealing into the port. 

Bainbridge at once gave chase, and gained rapidly 
before the fine breeze that filled his sails. But the cor- 
sair hugged the coast and it was soon found that the 
" Philadelphia " was getting into shoal water. Bain- 
bridge did not know that the case was really worse 
than this, that he was running among reefs, with 
the channels of which the corsairs were familiar. 

On went the frigate at a good pace, and soon her 
bow guns began to throw shot at the corsair, the chase 
continuing until the walls of the city became visible 
scarcely three miles away. For some time the men 
throwing the lead had steadily reported eight fathoms 
of water, but suddenly the cry came of seven fathoms, 
and in a few seconds more of six and a half. In an 
instant the helm was thrown hard over and the ship 
came up to the wind, headed seaward, but the next 
moment, with a severe shock, she struck the reef. 
The bow rose six feet out of water, many of the men 
were hurled prostrate by the shock, and the cordage 
and masts creaked dismally under the tremendous 
strain. 

The good ship was in a very perilous position. 
Every effort was made to get her off, the guns for- 
ward being thrown overboard or run back to reduce 
the load at the bow and even the foremast cut away, 
but all to no avail. She was hard and fast on the reef. 
Quickly the enemy's gunboats came out and opened 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 119 

fire on the stranded vessel. The Americans replied 
with the few guns that could be brought to bear, but 
as the tide ebbed the ship keeled over until nothing 
could be done with the guns and they were in a help- 
less state. Recognizing that the vessel could not be 
got off and that defence was impossible, Captain Bain- 
bridge now had the magazine flooded, the pumps dis- 
abled, holes bored through the ship's bottom, and at 
five o'clock her flag was hauled down. 

For a time the Tripolitans held aloof, fearing some 
treachery, but as night fell they boarded the ship, and ^ 
at once began to plunder, taking everything they fan- 
cied, even to the clothing of some of the men. In all 
315 men surrendered,* among them, in addition to 
Bainbridge, several officers who were to make their 
mark in coming years. 

Two days later the Tripolitans succeeded in getting 
the vessel off the reef during the high tide, enhanced 
by the heaping up of the waters by a strong north 
wind. The holes in the hull had been stopped up, 
cables were attached to her stern, and by bringing a 
strain on these the frigate was hauled off. The guns, 
anchors and most of the shot that had been thrown 
overboard to lighten her were recovered, and the 
Bashaw was immensely gratified that he had gained a 
fine American-built ship at no cost to himself. 

Nineteen months elapsed before the attacks of the 
American fleet forced the Bashaw to give up his cap- 
tives. Within that time the " Philadelphia " had been 
destroyed, the suggestion that this be done coming 
from Bainbridge, who wrote a letter with lime juice — 
which becomes legible when heated — and had it deliv- 
ered through the aid of the Danish consul at Tripoli, 
who showed throughout the kindest attention to the 



I20 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Americans. Bainbridge was afterwards, in accord- 
ance with custom, tried by court-martial for the loss of 
his ship, but of course was honorably acquitted, the 
proceeding being a mere matter of form. 

After his release, in June, 1805, Bainbridge returned 
home and for some years afterwards was employed 
as a merchant captain, but in the winter of 181 1, when 
war with Great Britain seemed at hand, he hastened 
home from St. Petersburg, making a rapid overland 
journey through Sweden. 

On reaching Washington he, in company with Cap- 
tain Stewart, urged the government, which had for 
years paid little attention to the efficiency of the navy, 
to put it in better condition for efifective service and 
give American seamen an opportunity to display their 
skill and heroism on the ocean, the department pro- 
posing to hold the ships back for harbor defence. 
He was immediately promoted to the rank of commo- 
dore, and in October, 181 2, sailed from Boston in 
command of a squadron consisting of the " Constitu- 
tion " and the " Hornet." The " Essex " was to meet 
him off the Delaware, but failed to do so, and after 
the coast of Brazil was reached the " Hornet " was left 
blockading the British warship " Bonne Citoyenne " 
in the harbor of Bahia, after in vain challenging her 
to come out and fight. Leaving her there, the " Con- 
stitution " sailed on a cruise down the coast until about 
thirty miles southeastward from Bahia. 

On the morning of December 29, while the ship 
was moving along under short sail before a gentle 
breeze from the northeast, a hail came from the look- 
out aloft to the effect that two sails were visible to the 
north and inshore. As it was afterwards learned, 
these were a British frigate, the " Java," and an Amer- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 121 

ican merchant ship, the " WilHam," which had been 
captured two weeks before. 

All on deck of the " Constitution " watched these 
distant vessels with eager interest, especially when 
they were seen to part company, one heading towards 
the " Constitution," the other taking a different 
course. The natural conclusion was that the former 
was a warship out for prizes or eager for a fight. 

An hour passed away and then the coming ship 
hoisted a number of small flags, private signals of the 
British navy. Commodore Bainbridge answered with 
the American private signal. As neither could read 
or reply to the other, it was evident that they were of 
different nations, and the " Constitution " was headed 
soutlieasterly so as to get more sea-room in the event 
of a battle. The " Java " at once headed after her, 
and for the next two hours there was a race, in which 
the British ship proved much the fastest and rapidly 
gained on the American, it following a course that 
would give it the weather gauge. 

It was nine o'clock when the strangers were first 
sighted. It was past one when they came within near 
vicinity. The men on the " Constitution " had finished 
their after-dinner smoke when they were ordered to 
clear the ship for action and the American flag was 
hoisted to the breeze. The " Java " now showed the 
English colors and squared away in an effort to cross 
the " Constitution's " stern and rake her with a broad- 
side. This purpose was defeated by the alert Bain- 
bridge, and the two ships luffed up again on the port 
tack and ran on at about a half-mile apart. It was 
just two o'clock when the firing began, the shots from 
the " Java " reaching the " Constitution," while her 
own fell short. 



122 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

From this time on the firing was continuous, the 
smoke filHng the air till each ship was shrouded from 
view, and the distance gradually decreasing until they 
were within musket shot. This fact proved unfortu- 
nate for Commodore Bainbridge, for as he paced his 
quarterdeck a musket-ball from the " Java " struck 
him in the thigh. By good luck it was a flesh wound 
only, and he was able to remain on deck, supporting 
himself near the wheel and directing the battle. 

Forging ahead, the " Java " now sought to cross 
the " Constitution's '' bows and rake her from this 
position, but the latter squared away as quickly and 
escaped the intended fire. Headed westward and 
within short range of each other, the two ships now 
kept up the fight hotly, but the swift " Java " soon 
forged ahead again and once more tried to cross the 
*' Constitution's " bows. This time she got in a par- 
tially raking fire, diagonally across the deck, one 
round shot striking the wheel of the " Constitution " 
and knocking it to pieces, while it drove a copper bolt 
from it deep into the leg of the commodore. 

Though twice wounded, the brave Bainbridge still 
refused to go below. In fact, he continued to direct 
the movements of his ship while the surgeon was cut- 
ting out the bolt and bandaging his leg. In spite of 
the loss of the wheel, the vessel could be handled, 
there being a tiller below decks, with tackles to handle 
it, while a line of midshipmen was stationed to pass 
the word to the helmsman. 

The two ships had swung round until they now 
headed eastward, the " Java " having so far held the 
weather gauge and thus being able to choose her 
position. Weary of this, Bainbridge at length deter- 
mined to run directly for her, taking the risk of being 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 123 

raked, and to bring the vessels yard arm to yard arm. 
It was a perilous manoeuvre, and would have proved 
serious to the " Constitution " had the English gun- 
ners known how to aim. As it was, they blazed away 
wildly and wastefully, while the Yankee tars made 
every shot tell as their ship ranged up under the 
" Java's " lee bow. 

Seeing this. Captain Lambert, of the " Java," took 
the same risk that his foe had done, heading his ship 
towards the " Constitution " with the purpose of 
boarding, but in doing so got a frightful raking fire, 
while the marines in the American tops poured a 
shower of musketry into the gathering ranks of the 
boarders. The sails 0* the " Constitution " were 
backed to hold her in this favorable position, and 
round shot, grape and canister were poured in destruc- 
tive fury upon the foe, sweeping her decks and cutting 
away her spars. The bowsprit of the " Java " was 
soon shot away. Five minutes later her foremast fell. 
The " Constitution " now overreached her bows, wore 
round, and brought her fresh broadside to bear, and 
as the enemy was swung round by the drag of the 
wrecked foremast, she wore again and gave her the 
port broadside. This was a wrecking fire. Down 
came the " Java's " maintopmast, followed by the gaff 
and boom of the spanker, and finally, at five minutes 
to four her mizzenmast was cut off and crashed 
down, carrying her last flag with it. But the British 
fought with such unyielding pluck that, though their 
ship was now a helpless wreck, it was ten minutes 
more before their fire was silenced. 

As the cheers of the Yankee seamen rent the air, 
John Cheever, a bold fellow from Marblehead. who 
was lying apparently dead upon the deck, opened his 



124 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

eyes and asked what the noise was for. On being 
told that the enemy had struck, he Hfted himself on 
one arm, waved the other around his head, gave three 
cheers, and fell back dead. 

The " Constitution " now drew off to repair the few 
injuries she had received, leaving the prize to await 
her pleasure. As she sailed back every spar was in 
place and the ship practically in as good shape as when 
the fight began. On her approach a British flag was 
seen waving from the stump of the mizzen-mast, and 
she ranged up for another broadside. Then the stub- 
born Britons hauled down their flag and at last 
acknowledged defeat. 

When the " Java " was boarded she was found in a 
frightful condition and with dead and wounded strewn 
everywhere. Her captain had been mortally wounded 
more than an hour before, and the obstinate fight that 
followed had been kept up by Lieutenant Chads, and 
this in spite of the fact that he was severely wounded. 
On both sides the fight had been gallantly sustained 
and the ships admirably handled, the result being due 
to the greatly superior gunnery of the Americans. 
There are conflicting statements of the losses, but 
Bainbridge's report that he had twelve killed and 
twenty-two wounded to nearly sixty killed and over 
a hundred wounded on the " Java," is probably close 
to tlie facts. As for the " Java " herself, she was 
found to be such a wreck that she was not worth the 
labor of bringing home. She was therefore set on 
fire and blew to pieces when the fire reached her 
magazine. 

Thus ended one of the most evenly and hotly con- 
tested rtaval battles in American history. On his 
return home Bainbridge got a most enthusiastic recep- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 125 

tion. The people of Boston, where he landed, showed 
their delight in processions and banquets. Congress 
voted him a gold medal and gave silver medals to his 
officers, while $50,000 was donated to the crew. As 
for the " Constitution " herself, the people honored 
her by giving her the famous sobriquet of " Old 
Ironsides." 

This one great victory was Bainbridge's chief con- 
tribution to the naval history of the war of 18 12. In 
1815 he commanded a squadron sent to the Mediter- 
ranean to deal with the Barbary states, which were 
growing troublesome again. Peace with Algiers was 
made soon afterwards, and other disputes were settled. 
During the remainder of his life Bainbridge was 
engaged in various naval duties, as commandant at 
navy yards, etc. In 1819 he commanded the new 
line-of-battle ship " Columbus." He served as second 
to Decatur in his fatal duel with Commodore Barron. 
His career closed in death on the 28th of July, 1833. 



STEPHEN DECATUR AND THE BURNING 
OF THE "PHILADELPHIA" 

The fame of Stephen Decatur was gathered on 
many fields of conflict, but the exploit by which he is 
best known is the spectacular attack on and burning 
of the frigate " Philadelphia " when a prize to the 
Moors in the harbor of Tripoli. In its way this 
exploit displayed such bold resolution and cool intre- 
pidity as to give it a leading place in our naval history, 
while it had in it so much of the spice of bold adven- 
ture as to bring Decatur an undying renown. But he 
shone in other scenes of warfare, as will be seen in the 
following sketch of his career. 

Stephen Decatur was born at Sinnepuxent, Mary- 
land, January 5, 1779, the son of a naval officer of the 
same name who served in the Revolution and in the 
naval war with France. His grandfather was a 
French naval officer, who came to America in 1740, 
his naval inclination being thus hereditary. 

Decatur entered the navy as a midshipman in 1798, 
in his twentieth year, his first cruise being to the West 
Indies with Captain John Barry, where he saw some 
service against the French. He was promoted lieu- 
tenant in 1799. In 1 80 1, when the navy was reduced 
to peace proportions after the naval war with France, 
Decatur was included among the officers of that rank 
who were retained on the list. In May of that year he 
sailed in Captain Dale's squadron to the Mediter- 
ranean, on the expedition against the Moors, as an 
officer of the " Essiex," under Captain Bainbridge. 
126 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 127 

An interesting anecdote is told of him in this con- 
nection. While the " Essex " lay in the harbor of 
Barcelona, Captain Bainbridge was insultingly treated 
by the commander of a Spanish gunboat, and the next 
night, when Decatur and some other officers went 
ashore, they were similarly treated by the same officer. 
This was too much for the hot blood of the young lieu- 
tenant. Going to the guard-boat the next morning, 
he asked for its captain and was told that he was on 
shore. He left this message for him : 

" Tell him that Lieutenant Decatur, of the frigate 
* Essex,' pronounces him a cowardly scoundrel, and 
that when they meet on shore he will cut his ears off." 

The next step in the affair was a letter to Captain 
Bainbridge from the commandante of the port, 
requesting him to keep his lieutenant on board so as 
to avoid a quarrel between him and the guard-boat 
captain. Bainbridge's reply to the cool request was 
that if the captain did not know how to treat Amer- 
ican officers as gentlemen he must take the conse- 
quences. 

The upshot of the affair was that the insolent cap- 
tain was forced by his superior to make a humble 
apology, while the king, on hearing of the affair, gave 
orders that officials should " treat all officers of the 
United States with courtesy, and especially those 
attached to the United States frigate * Essex.' " 

Having been transferred to the " New York," he 
was at Malta on one occasion when a midshipman, a 
mere boy, was insulted by an English bully, a noted 
duellist, whose purpose was to get up a duel with one 
of the American officers. He got more than he bar- 
gained for. Decatur offered to be the young fellow's 
second and decided that they should fight by being 



128 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

placed back to back, and at the word to walk forward 
two steps, whirl around and fire. The English second 
demurred to this as a murderous demand, but Deca- 
tur insisted on it, as the only way to put the young 
officer on an equality with the skilled duellist. 

That night the midshipman was given an empty 
pistol and thoroughly trained in the work he was to 
do, and the next morning his training enabled him to 
get in his shot first and kill his antagonist. There 
was such a stir made about this duel that Decatur 
returned to the United States to avoid international 
difficulties, the slain man having been the secretary of 
the governor of Malta, who was greatly incensed at 
his loss. 

In November, 1803, Decatur rejoined the fleet, then 
lying before Tripoli, under Commodore Preble, and 
was put in command of the twelve-gun schooner 
" Enterprise." In this vessel he captured a Tripolitan 
ketch called the " Mastico," and took it to Syracuse, 
where the American fleet then lay. The project of 
destroying the frigate " Philadelphia," which then lay 
in the harbor of Tripoli close to the castle and bat- 
teries, after being lost in the manner already described, 
was then in contemplation, and Decatur eagerly asked 
permission to undertake the work with his vessel, the 
" Enterprise." Others also applied, but Decatur was 
finally chosen, the captured " Mastico " being selected 
instead of the " Enterprise," as its rig would enable 
it to enter the harbor without arousing suspicion. 

A crew of sixty-two picked men and thirteen officers 
were put on board this vessel, and on February 9. 
1804, it set sail for Tripoli, the brig " Siren," under 
Lieutenant Charles Stewart, going with it to lie off 
the harbor and pick up the fugitives if they should 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 129 

have to take to their boats. Among the officers on 
board were two midshipmen, Thomas Macdonough 
and James Lawrence, who were to win their meed of 
fame in later years. 

A furious gale was blowing when the expedition 
reached the vicinity of Tripoli, and for six days the 
two vessels tossed on the waves, the weather not 
being fit for the enterprise until the i6th. Seven 
more volunteers were then taken from the " Siren," 
the men divided into gangs, each with a special duty 
to perform, the combustibles examined and found to 
be in order, and at nine o'clock at night the little vessel 
sailed into the harbor, taking the channel which the 
" Philadelphia " had followed to her loss. 

When the lights of the city came well into view, all 
the crew except six men disguised as Moors con- 
cealed themselves, some going below, some lying on 
the deck behind the bulwarks. The wind failed them 
as they got well in, but the ketch drifted onward 
towards the great hull of the " Philadelphia," plainly 
visible in the moonlight. The crew seemed to be 
awake and alert, lights showing through all her ports. 

It was about ten o'clock when the " Mastico " came 
near the frigate, it being steered so as to run afoul 
of the frigate's rigging at the bowsprit. Hailed by a 
sentinel, the Maltese pilot answered that the ketch had 
lost her anchors during the gale and wished to make 
fast to the anchors of the " Philadelphia " until others 
could be procured. While this talk with the pilot 
went on two of the disguised sailors got into a small 
boat and carried a line to a ring-bolt on the frigate's 
bow, and men on deck began to haul up the ketch, 
those lying under the bulwarks catching the rope and 
helping in the work. Meanwhile the Tripolitans had 



I30 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

sent a small boat with a line to aid in fastening the 
ketch, but this the two sailors in the boat took from 
them, saying in broken Maltese that they would " save 
the gentlemen the trouble." 

The result was unfortunate. While the ketch was 
being hauled in by the bow line, the tension on this 
stern line turned her broadside on, so that the Moorish 
spectators who were looking over the side of the 
frigate were able to see the men lying under the bul- 
warks and pulling away on the line. Instantly the 
stratagem was suspected and the cry of " Americano ! 
Americano ! " was raised. 

Immediate and decisive action was now necessary. 
Springing to their feet, the sailors ran back with the 
line, giving the ketch a vigorous send forward. A 
Tripolitan cut the rope, but the ketch glided on with 
the impetus it had received. Grapnels were thrown, 
and at the cry from Decatur of " Boarders away ! " 
a wild leap was made for the frigate's rail. Midship- 
man Morris was the first on board, with Decatur close 
behind, and the rest swarming over like cats. 

The Tripolitans were taken by surprise. In an 
instant the quarterdeck was cleared. Then the men 
charged back in a line, cutlass in hand, driving the 
dismayed crew before them. Taken by panic, many 
of the Tripolitans leaped overboard, while others ran 
below — to meet death at the hands of the sailors who 
had climbed through the ports. So swift was the work 
that in ten minutes all resistance was at an end and 
a rocket was sent whirling up to advise the men on 
the " Siren " of their success. 

Already the combustibles were being brought on 
board and the work of destruction went on with the 
utmost rapidity. The firing gangs spread through 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 131 

the ship, Midshipman Morris heading the crew that 
sought the cockpit, the lowest attainable point. But 
so quick were those above him in their work that 
Morris and his men had barely time to escape before 
the swift springing flames cut off all egress. When the 
upper deck was reached flames were already shooting 
from the portholes on both sides. Into the ketch the 
men tumbled in frantic haste, Decatur being the last 
to leave the burning ship. They had been on board 
the frigate but twenty-five minutes in all. 

There was serious difficulty, however, in getting 
the ketch away. She swung round under the ship's 
stern, with flames pouring from the cabin windows 
into the cabin of the ketch, where the ammunition of 
the expedition had been stored. Only at that moment 
was it remembered that the line at the stern still held 
fast. This severed, the crew, with their big sweeps, 
eight on a side, were able to get clear of the blazing 
ship and make way towards the sea. They had not 
gone far before the tarred rigging of the frigate caught 
fire and the flames ran rapidly to the masthead, illum- 
inating the whole harbor with their light, while the 
great vessel stood out a magnificent spectacle, with all 
her spars and rigging shown in lines of fire. 

The Tripolitans meanwhile hastened to their forts, 
and soon cannon balls were plashing in the water 
around the fugitive craft. The distance was not great, 
but haste and excitement rendered the aim bad, and 
only a single shot hit the ketch, this passing through 
a sail. The guns from the batteries were soon echoed 
by those from the frigate, these being heated by the 
flames. But before they were all discharged the fire 
reached the magazine, and with a terrific shock and 
roar and a blinding sheet of flames the huge vessel 



132 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

v/as torn into fragments, which were scattered far and 
wide over harbor and shore. It was the funeral gun 
of the good ship " Philadelphia." 

Meanwhile the little " Mastico " had got beyond 
gunshot, an'd soon her intrepid crew reached their 
companions waiting without, not a man of them lost 
and only one wounded. Thus ended what Lord Nel- 
son truly called " the most bold and daring act of the 
age." To reward those who took part Congress made 
Decatur a captain and voted him a sword, and to all 
the men was given two months' extra pay. As for 
the " Mastico," she was renamed the " Intrepid." The 
Bashaw of Tripoli showed his exasperation over his 
loss by confining the late crew of the " Philadelphia " 
in a damp apartment in the castle, lighted only by an 
iron grating and keeping them there till he was forced 
to make peace and set free his captives. 

Six months later Decatur took an active part in 
another enterprise, one in which hard fighting replaced 
keen strategy. This was the attack of August 3 on 
the defences of Tripoli. Of the six gunboats that 
were sent in, Decatur commanded the foremost three 
and bore the brunt of the hard fighting that took place. 
His brother, Lieutenant James Decatur, was in charge 
of one of the boats. The enemy awaited the onset 
with nine well manned and armed boats. 

Decatur opened fire with a gun that had been loaded 
with a thousand musket balls in a bag, and the next 
moment was on board the foremost boat and driving 
back its crew with an irresistible charge, the Tripoli- 
tans tumbling over the rail or down the hatch in their 
haste to get away. Their captain had been killed, 
his body being riddled with fourteen balls from the 
great gun. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 133 

Meanwhile James Decatur had attacked another 
boat, to be met with treachery instead of force. The 
Moorish captain hauled down his flag at the first fire, 
but when the young lieutenant came up to take pos- 
session treacherously shot him dead. During the con- 
fusion caused by this unexpected attack the boat 
hauled off. 

But the murderer did not escape. Word reached 
Decatur of the dastardly deed, and in an instant he 
was in fierce pursuit of the fleeing barbarian, pouring 
in a volley of grapeshot and musketry as he 
approached, and leading an indignant rush of board- 
ers as he came up, he selecting the captain to deal with 
himself. A hand-to-hand fight followed, fierce and 
desperate, the Tripolitan being a powerful and savage 
fellow, while fury gave Decatur double strength. 

A brief, hot contest with pike and sword took place, 
Decatur being wovmded in the chest and arm and his 
sword breaking off at the hilt. Then, leaping at the 
assassin, he grasped him, and in a moment the two 
were wrestling and struggling for victory. At this 
critical moment a Tripolitan aimed a blow at Decatur's 
head, his life being saved only by a deed of rarely 
equalled heroism. The only American near him was 
a seaman named Reuben James, both of whose arms 
had been disabled. But he sprang forward, thrust 
himself between and caught upon his head the blow 
aimed at his captain. 

The struggling antagonists now fell to the deck, 
the Tripolitan on top, but each with one arm free, and 
each drawing a weapon, the Tripolitan a long knife, 
Decatur a pocket pistol. Fortunately for the latter 
he was an instant the quicker and shot the Mussul- 
man through the heart, killing him instantly. It is 



134 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

pleasant to be able to say that the gallant Reuben 
James recovered from his wound and lived to serve his 
country for many }ears afterwards. 

The tliird boat, commanded by Sailing Master John 
Trippe, made as good a fight and ended the contest 
in the same manner as in the other two, with the death 
of the ]\Ioorish captain. As it chanced, the two boats 
swung apart when only these two officers and nine 
men had boarded, leaving the eleven to face the whole 
barbarian crew. Trippe saw there was but one hope 
for victory, to kill the Tripolitan captain. But he 
proved to be a fellow of great strength and agility, 
who had sworn on the Koran to conquer or die. In 
the fight that followed Trippe received no less than 
eleven wounds, and at last was forced down with one 
knee on the deck. But in this position he caught the 
captain in an unguarded moment and thrust him 
through with a pike. This ended that remarkable 
fight, in which eleven men killed fourteen of their 
antagonists and captured the remaining twenty-two, 
without 4 man being killed on their side. Wc have 
elsewhere told the story of the work of Richard Som- 
ers in this fight, and of his final fate in command of 
the " Intrepid." in which Decatur had won such glory. 

Decatur continued in the navy after the close of 
this war. commanding the " Chesapeake," and in 1810 
the " United States." Relations with Great Britain 
were now growing very strained, and more tlian one 
act of partial hostility took place. In one of these 
the " United States " figured. While cruising oflf 
Sandy Hook she fell in with the British ships " Eury- 
dice " and " Atalanta." Decatur had his men at the 
guns^ simply as a matter of precaution ; but while 
he was exchanefine: hails with one of the Britons a 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 135 

gun was discharged and a ball struck the British ship. 
An impatient gunner had pulled his lanyard, perhaps 
purposely to try and force a fight, but as he said it 
was done by accident the incident passed off. The 
shot was probably sent to show what American sea- 
men thought of the British policy of impressment. 

Of the famous naval events of the war that followed 
Decatur was the hero of one of the most striking, 
that of the capture of the " Macedonian." War was 
declared on June 18, 1812, and the ships of the repub- 
lic were soon afloat, eager for prizes. Among them 
the " United States " left Boston on October 8, as 
one of a squadron, but soon parted from the others 
and headed eastward for a cruise between the Azores 
and the Canary Islands. On the morning of the 25th 
a sail was seen off the weather beam, and soon after 
it was observed that she was making sail as if in 
chase of the " United States." 

The event proved this to be a stout new British ship, 
the " Macedonian," whose captain had been told at 
Madeira that the American frigate " Essex " was 
expected to cruise in those waters and had put out in 
hopes of capturing her. On seeing a warlike-looking 
stranger he fancied this was the ship he was out to 
meet and he changed his course to intercept her. He 
found the stranger quite ready to meet him half way, 
Decatur spreading sail and heading towards his ship. 

When their signals made it evident that they were 
enemies, Decatur made an effort to get to windward 
of his foe, but he found the " Macedonian " too swift 
and well handled for this. Shortly after nine o'clock 
the battle began with some harmless feelers from each 
ship, but they soon came within range, and during 
the half hour that followed there was as stiff a fight 



136 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

as has often been seen. The Yankee tars worked their 
guns so rapidly that the thick cloud of smoke they 
raised made the Englishman believe that the " United 
States " was on fire. But as usual in that war the 
American gunners knew how to handle their guns far 
better than their antagonists. Few shots were wasted 
and the " Macedonian " was being badly cut up, while 
the " United States " was little harmed. 

Decatur walked along the gun-deck to watch the 
work of the men and to cheer them to their task. As 
he stopped at one gun he said : 

" Aim at that yellow streak along her side. Her 
spars and rigging are going fast enough. She needs 
a little more hulling." 

At another gun he heard a gunner say to his mate 
after the mizzen-topmast of the " Macedonian " had 
fallen : 

" Hey, Bill, we have made a brig of her." 

" Take good aim, my lad, and we '11 soon turn her 
into a sloop," said Decatur. And they did, for her 
fore-topmast soon followed. Shortly afterwards the 
main-topmast was shot away. 

Before this happened the captain of the " Mace- 
donian," desperate at his losses, had made a vigorous 
effort to close in and board his antagonist, but Decatur 
was too alert to permit this, and as the ships came 
nearer the destruction on the English ship was redou- 
bled. By eleven o'clock the " Macedonian " had 
become a wreck, unable to continue the fight, and the 
" United States " ceased firing. Of her spars only the 
mizzen-topgallant mast was gone. The " United 
States " now eased off to make some swift repairs to 
her rigging, but quickly came back and ranged across 
the stem of the Englishman. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 137 

Meanwhile Captain Garden had called a council of 
his officers. Lieutenant Hope urged that they should 
fight till they sank, but the others had no fancy for 
such hopeless folly, and as the " United States " came 
up the British flag went down. The actual fight had 
lasted an hour and a half. In that time only seven 
men were killed and five wounded on the " United 
States," while the " Macedonian " had lost forty-three 
killed and sixty-one wounded and all her upper spars 
were gone. 

Fortunately for Decatur, he was able to bring in his 
prize, far as he was from home. Two weeks of calm 
weather followed the battle, and in that time new spars 
were put in place, new sails bent on, new back-stays 
and shrouds set up, and on December 4 the " Macedo- 
nian " came to anchor at New London, soon after- 
wards proceeding to New York. A season of national 
rejoicing followed, Decatur was feted and feasted, 
Congress gave him a gold medal and each of his offi- 
cers a silver medal, while many states and cities took 
steps to do him honor. For the time being he was the 
country's great hero. 

His later career was less fortunate. In June, 1813, 
he was blockaded by a British fleet in the harbor of 
New London with the squadron under his command, 
the ships being kept there till the end of the war, 
every effort to break the blockade failing. In the sum- 
mer of 1814 he was transferred to the " President," 
then in New York harbor, and ordered to sail with a 
squadron to the East Indies, but the blockade there 
was strict and it was not until January 14, 181 5, after 
peace had been concluded in Europe — though this was 
not then known in the United States — that he took the 
" President " out during a night of tempest. 



138 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

He sailed to meet misfortune. On crossing the bar 
at Sandy Hook the vessel grounded, and for an hour 
and a half, till the tide raised, lay pounding on the 
sands. When she got off she was badly " hogged and 
twisted," having fairly broken her back. At daylight 
she found herself in the presence of several ships of 
the British blockading squadron and hotly chased by 
the " Endymion," which was so situated that it could 
cut up the " President " with its guns without receiv- 
ing a shot in return. Decatur made an effort to run 
her down and board her, but the " Endymion " was 
swift enough to keep out of his way, and a fierce fight 
took place at musket range, both vessels suffering, the 
" Endymion " being so severely dealt with that she 
was well nigh wrecked. 

But it was impossible to fight her to a finish, for 
two other ships, the " Pomone " and the " Tenedos," 
were close at hand, and Decatur's only safety lay in 
flight. He was hotly pursued, and overhauled at 
eleven o'clock at night. To fight then, with one-fifth 
of his crew disabled, his ship badly crippled and with 
a force more than four times his own opposed to him, 
seemed to Decatur madness, and after the first broad- 
side from the " Pomone " he hauled down his flag. 
He has been blamed for yielding too readily, but no 
one can accuse him of lack of courage, and he doubt- 
less shrank from a fruitless sacrifice of his crew. 

As we have said, this battle was fought after the 
treaty of peace had been signed, as was soon learned. 
In May, 18 15, Decatur was despatched, with a squad- 
ron of nine vessels, to his old fighting ground, the 
Mediterranean, where the Barbary states had taken 
advantage of the war to show their teeth again. 

A second squadron was fitted ou*, under Commo- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 139 

dore Bainbridge, but before it reached the Mediter- 
ranean, Decatur had brought the trouble to an end. 
The main difficulty was with Algiers, which had a 
naval force of considerable strength, having for Admi- 
ral " Rais Hammida, the terror of the Mediterranean." 
His flagship was the forty-six-gun frigate " Mash- 
ouda." 

Decatur met him with his squadron on the morn- 
ing of June 17, oflf Cape Gatte. On finding himself 
in the presence of a strong force of the enemy Ham- 
mida made all sail for Algiers, not far away, but was 
soon overhauled. Good fighter as he was, he could 
do nothing with one ship against a squadron. In 
fact, he was killed almost at the beginning of the 
fight. His successor fought sturdily, keeping up the 
battle for a half hour, but, surrounded as he was by 
three strong ships, surrender was inevitable. Soon 
afterwards the squadron picked up another prize, the 
" Estido," a twenty-two-gun brig. 

Decatur was now ready for an interview with the 
piratical Dey of Algiers. His mode of dealing with 
him was decisive and in some respects amusing. 
Arriving off Algiers on June 28, the captain of the 
port came on board, and was asked by Decatur where 
the Algerian navy was to be found. 

" By this time it is safe in some neutral port," was 
the reply. 

" Not the whole of it," answered Decatur. " We 
have already captured the frigate * Mashouda ' and 
the brig 'Estido,' and your Admiral Hammida is 
killed." 

When the p'ort captain declared that this was false, 
the lieutenant of the " Mashouda " was brought for- 
ward to confirm the statement. The captain at once 



I40 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

changed his tone from insolence to humility, and asked 
that hostilities should cease till a treaty could be made 
on shore. Decatur firmly replied : 

" Hostilities will go on until a treaty is made ; and a 
treaty will be made nowhere but on board the ' Guer- 
riere ' " (his flagship). 

The next day the captain came out with full powers 
to negotiate. Decatur presented his terms, including 
the release of all Americans held in slavery and the 
property taken from them. The Algerian objected to 
this, saying that the property had been too widely 
distributed, Decatur sternly replied : 

*' As it was unjustly taken, it must be restored or 
paid for." 

The next point objected to by the captain was that 
of relinquishing all tribute, and he also declined to pay 
for a Salem brig that had been captured under a pre- 
vious dynasty. He took the opportunity to impress 
on Decatur how great a man was the present ruler, 
Omar the Terrible. But Decatur did not yield a jot 
before the name of Omar the Terrible, and even 
refused to grant a three hours' truce. 

" Not a minute," he said. " If your squadron 
appears before the treaty is signed by the Dey and 
the American captives are on board, I shall capture it." 

The only concession Decatur was willing to make 
was the return of the " Mashouda." An hour after 
the captain left an Algerian man-of-war appeared in 
the offing. Here was the opportunity for a useful 
object lesson. The ships were prepared for action 
and were showing signs of getting under way when 
the port captain's boat was seen approaching, flying a 
white flag, as agreed upon. The treaty had been 
signed, every claim of the Americans had been con- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 141 

ceded, and the prisoners, ten in number, were on 
board. Some of these knelt on the deck to thank God 
for their release, while others hastened to kiss the 
American flag. 

There were two more of the Barbary states to be 
dealt with, Tunis and Tripoli. Decatur sailed from 
Algiers to Tunis and forced the Bey of that country 
to pay an indemnity for his disregard of treaty obliga- 
tions during the late war. This done, he repaired to 
Tripoli, the Bashaw of which country unwillingly 
agreed to pay a similar indemnity and also to release 
some Danish and Norwegian prisoners he held. All 
this accomplished, Decatur returned to the United 
States. He had put a final end to the piratical acts 
of the Moors, which had continued for centuries, and 
all civilized Europe thanked him for his work, while 
President Madison eulogized him in his message to 
Congress. 

Decatur was subsequently appointed Naval Com- 
missioner, residing in Washington, and with Commo- 
dores Rodgers and Porter engaged in building up a 
new navy. A quarrel with Commodore Barron soon 
ensued, arising from some remarks made by Decatur 
concerning this officer, the difficulty leading to a duel. 
This was fought at Bladensburg, near Washington, 
March 22, 1820, the result being that Barron received 
a severe wound in the hip and Decatur was shot in 
the abdomen. The wound proved mortal and he died 
the same night. 



JOHNSTON BLAKELEY AND THE STORY 

OF THE "ENTERPRISE" AND 

THE "WASP" 

We have said so much about the captains and com- 
modores of the navy that it seems not amiss to devote 
a chapter to two famous httle vessels and the gallant 
fellows wdio commanded them and on their decks 
upheld the honor of the American flag. These were 
the schooner " Enterprise," which has been denom- 
inated " the luckiest ship in the American navy," and 
the sloop-of-war " Wasp," one of an unlucky series of 
" Wasps." 

The " Enterprise " has already come into our pages 
as the craft with which Decatur captured the " Mas- 
tico," but it had done good work before that. Built 
in the year 1800, on the best lines known in that day, 
and armed with twelve six-pounders, the schooner- 
rigged " Enterprise " was sent to the West Indies, 
under Lieutenant John Shaw, to deal with the French 
privateers, which were preying upon the American 
merchant ships in that region. Here in six months 
she captured eight French vessels and recaptured four 
American ships from French prize crews. One of 
her captures was " L' Agile," a vessel of her own 
strength and commanded by a captain noted for his 
daring, and the " Flambeau," a considerably stronger 
vessel, which fought until forty out of its one hun- 
dred and ten men had fallen. Another stirring fight 
was with the privateer " Seine," which lost twenty- 
four out of fifty-four men before surrendering. 
142 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 143 

This war ended, the " Enterprise " was sent to the 
Mediterranean as part of Captain Dale's squadron. It 
was now commanded by Lieutenant Andrew Sterret, 
the man who had shot down a sailor on the " Con- 
stellation " for deserting his gun during her fight with 
the " Insurgent." Sterret was to display a spirit of 
the same decided kind in his present voyage. 

On August I, 1801, the "Enterprise" came within 
sight of the " Tripoli," a warship of the nation whose 
name she bore. She carried fourteen guns and eighty 
men. The fight between these ships was notable for 
the treachery of the Tripolitan and the spirit of the 
American. After a hot fight, two hours long, the flag 
of the " Tripoli " came down. Lieutenant Porter was 
sent in a boat to take possession, while the men of the 
" Enterprise " occupied themselves in repairing dam- 
ages. At this the corsairs raised their flag and opened 
fire again. 

Back to their guns ran the men, and the battle was 
renewed and kept up till the pirate flag came down a 
second time. This was a ruse, as before, for when 
Porter had set out once more to take possession the 
flag went up and the guns began to play as before. 
This example of Moorish honor exasperated Sterret. 

" Sink the damned treacherous hounds to the bot- 
tom ! " he roared, and the men started in with a 
will to obey his order, pouring in their shot with 
such rapidity as to throw the pirate captain into a 
panic of fear. He not only hauled down his flag, but 
he threw it into the sea and, bowing his head, begged 
for quarter. More than half his crew had been killed 
and wounded, while the " Enterprise " did not lose a 
man. The finale of the story is interesting in its way. 
While Congress voted a sword to Sterret and a 



144 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

month's pay to his crew, the corsair captain, when he 
reached Tripoli, was bastinadoed and paraded through 
the streets on a donkey for surrendering. 

In 1803 Lieutenant Stephen Decatur commanded 
the " Enterprise," and with it captured the " Mas- 
tico," the vessel he used in his famous expedition 
against the " Philadelphia." We meet the " Enter- 
prise " again in the war of 18 12, but now a strange 
change had come upon her. The navy department had 
converted her from a schooner into a brig, replaced 
her twelve six-pounders by fourteen short eighteens 
and two long nines and added forty men to her crew. 
This change, while it added to her fighting power, 
robbed her of her superior speed, so that she had 
become " too slow to run without becoming strong 
enough to fight." As it proved, however, she man- 
aged to escape in every chase and to put up some very 
good fights. 

At the opening of the war the " Enterprise " acted 
as a coast-guard against privateers between Cape Ann 
and the Bay of Fundy, under the command of Master 
Commandant Johnston Blakeley, a brave seaman from 
North Carolina, and in the summer of 18 13 under 
Lieutenant William Burrows. In the work assigned 
her, that of driving off privateers, the " Enterprise " 
was very successful, but on September 4, when near 
Portland, Maine, a brig became visible that showed 
indications of being a man-of-war. In expectation 
of a fight, Burrows cleared ship for action. The 
stranger seemed equally eager for battle, for it hoisted 
the British flag, fired four guns, and stood out to sea. 

Lieutenant Burrows did the same, and in order to 
be prepared should the stranger prove a faster sailer 
and overhaul him while too near shore for a fair fight, 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 145 

he ordered one of the stern windows of the vessel to 
be enlarged to a port sufficient for one of his long 
guns. The order for this work was heard with dis- 
pleasure by the crew, who thought that Burrows, who 
had been on board but three days and was not known 
to them, proposed to run instead of fight. They asked 
a midshipman to tell the captain that the men wanted 
to fight, and the youngster told the executive officer 
that the men were growling at the captain's order. 
He soon quieted them by telling them that their cap- 
tain had no thought of running away. 

By three o'clock in the afternoon Burrows had 
gained the offing he desired, and the vessel wore round 
and headed for the enemy. They kept on without 
firing until within pistol-shot range, when simultane- 
ously a broadside came from each ship. Damage was 
done on each, several men having been cut down at 
one of the quarterdeck guns of the " Enterprise," leav- 
ing the crew short-handed. As the men seized the 
tackles to haul out the gun for the next round. Bur- 
rows took hold to help them, bracing his foot against 
the port sill. At that moment a canister shot from 
the enemy came through the port, struck him in the 
upper part of the leg, glanced along the thigh-bone 
and buried itself in his abdomen. It was a frightful 
wound, but the gallant fellow refused to be carried 
below, crying out in his agony that " the colors must 
never be struck." 

Lieutenant McCall, however, was obliged to take 
command, and he proved quite equal to the work, 
continuing the fire with vigor. Finding that his vessel 
was the better sailer of the two, he forged ahead, ran 
across the bows of the enemy, and raked her with his 
port battery. Then, luffing up and backing his head- 
10 



146 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

yards, he raked her again and again with the starboard 
battery. 

The enemy kept up tlie fire with what guns they 
could bring to bear, but they were being badly pun- 
ished, and an officer at length shouted that they had 
surrendered, but could not lower their colors, 
for the flags had been nailed to the masts. 
Men were sent aloft and with considerable trouble 
ripped the ensigns loose and brought tliem down. 
The brig proved to be the " Boxer," Captain Blythe, 
who had ordered the flags to be nailed fast, saying that 
they should never come down while he lived. Nor did 
they, for he was killed about the same time that Bur- 
rows was mortally wounded. The latter lived till the 
sword of the l^ritish captain was brought to him. He 
grasped it firmly, saying: " I am satisfied. I die con- 
tent." In a few minutes more he was dead. 

We may tell in a few words the later story of the 
" Enterprise." Slow as she had become through the 
change in her rig, fortune more than once saved her 
from capture, she escaping several times from British 
frigates, once after being chased for seventy hours. 
On this occasion the " Enterj-)rise " was on the south- 
ern coast in company with the brig '' Rattlesnake." 
Being chased by a British frigate, the two vessels sep- 
arated, the frigate keeping on the track of the " Enter- 
prise " instead of pursuing her swifter consort. For 
three whole days the chase was kept up, the wind 
proving variable and baffling throughout and each 
change being to the disadvantage of the British ship. 
Several times she nearly overhauled the Yankee brig, 
but on each occasion a shift of wind favored the latter 
or a calm came on in which her boats could tow her. 
A final breeze placed her far to windward of the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 147 

enemy, and before the wind filled the frigate's sails 
the " Enterprise " ran out of sight and made her 
escape. 

Having reached Charleston, she was employed there 
as harbor guard until the war ended, ami went with 
Bainbridge to tlie Mediterranean in 1815. Thus this, 
tiie luckiest of American ships unless we except the 
old " Constitution," survived the disasters of three 
wars, fought many battles without doffing her flag, 
and lasted until she had fairly rotted away in the 
service of the nation. 

It has been said above that Johnston Blakeley was 
the first commander of the " Enterprise " in the war 
of 1812. This brave fellow had a brief but glorious 
later career, well worthy of a place in this work. 
Born in Ireland in 1781, he was brought as an infant 
to this coimtry and spent his boyhood years in Wil- 
mington, North Carolina, being educated in the Uni- 
versity of that state. He entered the navy as a mid- 
shipman in 1 80 1, was made a lieutenant in 1807, and 
as master commandant was in command of the 
" Enterprise " during the early part of the war with 
Great Britain. On July 24, 1813, he was transferred 
to the sloop-of-war " Wasp." 

We have spoken in the opening of this sketch of 
an unlucky series of " Wasps." There were three of 
them in the American navy in all, the first, a little 
eight-gun schooner, being burned at Philadelphia in 
1777 to keep her out of British hands; the second, the 
story of whose famous fight is important enough to 
be left for a separate sketch, being finally lost at sea. 
The third, with which we are now concerned, met with 
the same unforttmate end to her career, but first 
made her mark in a very striking manner, winning a 



148 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

name for herself and for her brave commander, John- 
ston Blakeley. 

This third " Wasp " was a beautiful little ship, 
large and heavy among the sloops-of-war of her day, 
and, like her predecessors, swift-footed, she being 
designed to outweigh and outsail the British ships of 
her class. Replacing the lost " Wasp," the story of 
which will later be given, this third of the name 
sailed from Baltimore on May i, 1814, evading the 
British blockaders and heading straight for the waters 
of England. Like Paul Jones, Blakeley proposed to 
let the enemy feel the hand of war at home. 

His opportunity came on June 28. In the early 
morning of that day two ships were sighted and the 
" Wasp " ran down under full sail for a closer look at 
them. She had not gone far before a third sail 
appeared on the weather beam and Blakeley hauled 
up to see what this craft was like before going farther, 
for the British Channel, in whose mouth he then lay, 
was likely to be sown thickly with the bulldogs of the 
English navy. 

Seeing that she was not the size of a frigate and 
that she was coming his way, Blakeley waited for her, 
and at ten o'clock the two ships were close enough 
together for the Briton to show private signals. These 
Blakeley could not answer, and, seeing that he had 
an enemy to deal with, he miancEuvred with the hope 
of getting the weathergauge. Failing in this, at 1.50 
o'clock he fired a gun to windward and hoisted the 
American flag. His antagonist instantly answered 
the challenge and bore down upon the " Wasp." 

The breeze was light, and it was 3.15 before they 
came within good fighting distance, being then less 
than sixty yards apart. At this distance the British 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 149 

ship opened fire with a twelve-pounder on her fore- 
castle and kept it up with this gun until five charges 
had been fired. No response came from the " Wasp." 
Captain Blakeley was waiting for the enemy to come 
nearer. At 3.26 he was ready and luffed up as if to 
cross her bows, opening fire as the guns began to 
bear, and for a short time the gunners on both sides 
did their utmost and the smoke of battle hung densely 
in the air. 

The British fought with desperate valor, but the 
" Wasp " surpassed them in weight of metal and espe- 
cially in marksmanship, and eight minutes of this 
fierce fight so cut up the sails of the enemy that she 
became unmanageable and drifted afoul of the Amer- 
ican ship, in a position that exposed her to a destruc- 
tive raking fire. 

A brave fellow was her captain, a fighter of the true 
Paul Jones type. Early in the fight he had been shot 
by a musket ball through the calves of both legs, a 
very painful but not disabling wound. As his ship 
fouled the " Wasp " a grape-shot pierced both his 
thighs. This severe wound brought him to his knees, 
but, struggling to his feet again, he called for board- 
ers and put himself at their head, sword in hand, lead- 
ing them to board the enemy. As he was climbing 
into the rigging two musket balls from the maintop of 
the " Wasp " struck him in the head and, still brandish- 
ing his sword, he fell back dead on his own deck. 

His fall ended the contest. The British boarders 
recoiled, the Americans boarded in turn and swept 
the dismayed crew back into their hold, and at 3.44, 
eighteen minutes after the first fire from the " Wasp," 
the ship was hers, it being surrendered by the cap- 
tain's clerk, the highest officer left. It proved to be 



I50 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the brig-sloop " Reindeer." There was Httle of a 
ship left. While the " Wasp " had suffered but 
slightly, the " Reindeer " was so terribly cut up that 
it was impossible to carry her even to the near-by 
French ports and she was set on fire and burned. 

The " Wasp " put in at L'Orient to refit, sailing 
again on August 2,^, and having the good fortune to 
meet another British warship in a four days' cruise. 
It was on September i that this event took place. 
Earlier that day the " Wasp " fell in with a fleet of 
ten merchantmen, guarded by the " Armada," a sev- 
enty-four-gun ship-of-the-line. The " Wasp " dashed 
boldly in, took and fired the brig " Mary," laden with 
military stores, and was seeking another prize when 
the big " Armada " came up and drove her away. 

Night was coming on when the " Wasp " sighted 
another sail, one of a squadron of three brig-sloops 
that were chasing a privateer. The " Avon," the slow- 
est of them, had been left behind and was alone when 
the " Wasp " came close up at about nine o'clock at 
night. To the British hail of " What ship is that ? " 
Blakeley replied : " Heave to and I '11 let you know 
who I am," and fired the twelve-pounder with which 
the " Reindeer " had begun her fight, and which had 
been transferred to the forecastle of the *' Wasp." 

The battle that ensued was short but furious, the 
British tars firing with what Lord Douglas calls 
" uncircumspect gallantry," the Americans replying 
with what the same author speaks of as " wary cau- 
tion." The result was frightful for the " Avon." The 
first broadside, of bar shot and lagrange, cut her rig- 
ging in every direction ; the second brought down her 
mainsail; in a short time her mainmast fell over the 
rail and her fire began to die away. At ten o'clock it 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 151 

ceased altogether and Captain Blakeley asked if she 
had struck. The answer came in a feeble fire that 
lasted twelve minutes more and then silence reigned 
again. This time, to Blakeley's hail, the answer came 
that they had struck. 

At this moment, before the prize could be boarded, 
the luck of the " Wasp " turned, a new enemy being 
sighted, and soon two separate sails were seen bear- 
ing down towards the scene of contest. They were 
the consorts of the " Avon," brought back to her aid 
by the roar of the guns. This was too much for the 
" Wasp " to face and she spread her wings in flight, 
carrying with her two dead and one wounded men 
and leaving forty-two dead and wounded on the 
" Avon." Blakeley had done his work effectually. 
The " Avon " was leaking like a riddle when her 
friends came up, and neither the work of the men at 
the pumps nor of the carpenters at the leaks sufficed to 
save her. At twelve o'clock the work of transferring 
her crew began, and at one her bow plunged under 
the water, her stern rose high in the air, and she sank 
from sight. 

This was not the last of the " Wasp's " work in 
that field. On the 12th and the 14th she captured mer- 
chantmen, and on the 21st she met and took an eight- 
gun privateer, the " Atalanta " — formerly a Baltimore 
privateer, named the " Siro." A prize crew was put on 
board this vessel under Midshipman David Geisinger 
and she set sail for America, all the crew writing home 
and Blakeley sending his official report of the battle 
with the " Avon." Those letters were the last ever 
received from the " Wasp," and, except for one word 
more, from that moment the good little ship became 
an ocean mystery. 



152 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Word was brought from sea by the Swedish bark 
" Adonis " that she had been spoken on October 9 by a 
sloop-of-war named the " Wasp," and that two Amer- 
ican officers on parole who were on the " Adonis " as 
passengers left her for the warship. This is the last 
authentic news about the tight little cruiser. There 
was a rumor that an English frigate came into Cadiz 
about this time, much crippled and with a severe loss 
in men, said to be due to an engagement with a heavy 
American corvette, which disappeared so suddenly 
in the night that it was thought she had sunk. Another 
rumor tells of how two English frigates chased an 
American sloop-of-war and that the three ships were 
struck with a heavy squall, in which the sloop suddenly 
disappeared. 

This is all that is known or rumored about the good 
little vessel and her brave captain and crew. She 
never came into port again, but, more fortunate than 
her predecessors of the name, she sank with the halo 
of victory around her and at the close of a glorious 
career, and left a meed of honor for the men who 
sailed and fought her. 



ISAAC HULL AND HIS WORK WITH 
"OLD IRONSIDES" 

Never was America so elated or England so aston- 
ished and dismayed as by the news of the capture of 
the " Guerriere " by the " Constitution," the first and 
one of the most spectacular among the many naval 
victories of the war of 1812. The man to whose cour- 
age and skill this famous achievement was due was 
Captain Isaac Hull, one of America's ablest mariners 
and most daring heroes of the sea. The events of his 
life are full of interest. 

Born at Derby, Connecticut, March 9, 1773, the 
son of a Revolutionary officer who died while he was 
young, his uncle wished to send him to college but the 
active boy preferred the sea and at the age of sixteen 
he began his maritime career as cabin boy on a mer- 
chant vessel. As such he was soon able to show his 
daring spirit, for the ship was wrecked and the captain 
owed his life to his cabin boy, who bore him up in 
the waves and got him safely ashore. As a result of 
his energy and ability he was himself made captain 
at the age of twenty of a ship trading with the West 
Indies, 

On the reorganization of the navy, young Hull was 
chosen on the new naval list, being given the rank of 
fourth lieutenant and assigned in 1798 to the " Con- 
stitution," launched the year before. With this ship 
he was for years afterwards identified. Some English- 
men who inspected the " Constitution," called her in 
derision " a pine box." The time was to come when 

153 



154 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

they were to learn that the " pine box " was one of 
the best ships afloat. 

In 1 80 1 Hull, then first lieutenant of the " Constitu- 
tion," had the earliest opportunity to show his mettle. 
The naval war with France was on, and in the Haytian 
harbor of Puerto Plata lay the French privateer " Sand- 
wich," a vessel well placed for defence, it being in 
position to rake any craft entering port, while it had 
the added protection of a good shore battery. Lieu- 
tenant Hull was selected by his captain to cut out this 
craft, and entered the harbor at night in the sloop 
" Sally," which was well filled with sailors and marines 
from the " Constitution." He succeeded by a sudden 
dash, sending the marines ashore to carry the battery 
and spike its guns, while with his sailors he boarded 
and captured the privateer. She was sent to a home 
port, but the capture was afterwards admitted to be 
illegal and her owners were indemnified for their loss. 
During the same cruise Hull acted as sailing master 
in a day's race between the " Constitution " and an 
English frigate, and won the race and the wager — a 
cask of wine. 

Master commandant in 1804, he was put in com- 
mand of the brig " Argus," one of three small cruisers 
that formed part of Preble's fleet in the Mediter- 
ranean and took part in the bombardment of Tripoli. 
Promoted to the rank of captain in 1806, he was 
assigned to his old ship, the " Constitution," and given 
the duty of carrying Joel Barlow to France as United 
States Minister and taking to Holland the specie to 
pay the debt due that country since Revolutionary 
times. 

As is well known to readers of history, the naval 
force of the United States suffered more than one 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 155 

insult from British warships in the times of strain pre- 
ceding the war of 1812. This came from the claim of 
Great Britain to take seamen owing allegiance to that 
country from any ship on which they were found. 
In this way not only British but American subjects 
were impressed from merchant ships, and even our 
men-of-war were not free from the insolent demands 
of the press-gang. The " Constitution " was one of 
the ships on which this was attempted — as it proved, 
with anything but success. 

The incident took place in 181 1. Captain Hull had 
sailed to Texel to pay the interest on American bonds 
held there, and on his return called at Portsmouth, 
England, having some business with the American 
Legation in London. During his absence in London 
a British officer brought word to the " Constitution " 
that an American deserter was then on the warship 
" Havana," and would be returned if sent for. The 
next morning the executive officer. Lieutenant Morris, 
sent a boat for the man, but the " Havana " refused to 
give him up without an order from the admiral. The 
latter, when applied to, said that the man claimed to be 
a British subject and therefore would not be returned. 

That was one side of the story. The other side 
came the next night, when a deserter from the 
" Havana " boarded the " Constitution," and replied, 
when asked of what nationality he was : " An Amer- 
ican, sor." Here was a chance for Lieutenant Morris 
to get even. He sent word to the captain of the 
" Havana " that a deserter from his ship was on the 
" Constitution," but when an officer was sent to take 
him back Morris mildly informed him that the man 
claimed to be an American, and therefore could not 
be given up. 



156 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

This defiance caused a thrill among the British naval 
officials, and some time after two frigates shifted their 
berths and anchored where the " Constitution " would 
be likely to foul one of them in getting under way. 
Morris, suspecting a trap, at once raised anchor and 
moved his ship to a new berth, but he was hardly 
anchored again before the two frigates once more 
came up and anchored in his way. 

This was the state of affairs when Captain Hull 
came back from London in the evening. He was not 
the man to be caught napping. On hearing of what 
had taken place he ordered the ship to be cleared for 
action, and with loaded guns and battle lanterns burn- 
ing he spread his sails, raised his anchor, slipped past 
the British ships, and put to sea. He had not gone 
far before the two frigates were under sail and after 
him. Pie kept on for some time under a press of 
canvas, then, seeing that one of the pursuers had 
dropped far behind, he backed his mainyard and 
waited for the other. 

"If that fellow wants to fight, we won't disappoint 
him," said Hull. 

When the frigate came within hail the men on the 
" Constitution " were ready at their guns and full of 
eagerness for a fight. On came the Briton, but when 
its captain saw the loaded guns facing him and the 
])lain signs of Yankee readiness he turned short on his 
heel and, like a dog with his tail between his legs, ran 
back for home. The retreat was a humiliating one 
after his braggart show. 

On her return from Portsmouth, the " Constitu- 
tion " was laid up in Giesapeake Bay to be cleaned 
and coppered, war being declared before this work 
was finished. She was floated as soon as possible, and 



HEROES OE THE NAVY 157 

a new crew, numbering' about four bundred and fifty 
men, was shipped. Green hands, the most of them, 
new to duty on a ship-of-war, but good material, as 
all the American crews at that time proved to be. 
Even the landsmen showed themselves able and will- 
ing and the seamen quickly acquired skill in the hand- 
ling of guns. They were well fed, well treated and 
full of manly spirit, very different in character and 
treatment from the impressed and unwilling scum 
of the seaports with which the British warships of 
that period were largely manned. The difference in 
condition was shown in their work. 

The " Constitution " was quickly destined to an 
interesting experience, somewhat like that of the little 
" Enterprise " when it escaped a British frigate after 
a three days' chase. Sailing from the Chesapeake on 
July 12, 18 1 2, for five days the " Constitution " beat 
up the coast, the airs being light and baffling and prog- 
ress slow. Then, on the 17th, she came in sight of a 
squadron of warships off Egg Harbor. There were 
four of them, and Hull at first kept on, fancying they 
were the Americans under Commodore Rodgers. 

Two hours later another sail appeared far away to 
the northwest. It was now four o'clock, but the wind 
was so light that at sundown this ship was still too 
distant for her signals to be made out. The wind now 
shifting to the south. Hull made better headway 
towards the stranger, and at ten o'clock he hoisted his 
secret night signal, showing it for an hour. As no 
answer came, he decided that the stranger was an 
enemy, and concluded that the ships inshore were also 
British. It was evidently the part of wisdom to get 
out of such dangerous company, and he now " hauled 
off to the southward and eastward and made all sail." 



158 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

It was a wise move, for he was really in very great 
peril. As it afterwards proved, the single ship towards 
which he had sailed was the frigate " Guerriere." 
The others were the ship-of-the-line " Africa " and 
the frigates " Shannon," " Belvidera " and " Eolus." 
They had with them the American brig " Nautilus," 
which they had recently captured. 

As for the " Guerriere," Hull did not try to avoid 
her. He simply sought to draw her away from the 
rest before fighting her. The two ships were but 
half a mile from each other when Captain Dacres of 
the " Guerriere " first saw the squadron inshore. He 
signalled, and as no answer was given — they falsely 
assuming that he knew who they were — he set sail to 
escape, supposing they were Americans, and had gone 
some distance before he discovered his mistake. But 
the ships inshore had meanwhile found wind enough 
to bring them within the danger limit, and at 5.30 in 
the morning, when the wind failed the " Constitu- 
tion," her position was one of the greatest hazard. 
Three of the ships were less than five miles away, and 
the " Guerriere " was in pursuit. Thus began the 
most famous race between war vessels known to 
American history. 

In the absence of wind, Hull's only hope lay in his 
boats, and he sent all these out with tow lines, their 
crews towing the ship to the southward. The enemy 
on seeing this did the same, and they went further, 
since they attached all the boats of the squadron to 
two ships. 

By this means, and the aid of the faint zeph- 
yrs that at intervals arose, they gained rapidly, 
the " Shannon " being near enough by six o'clock to 
open fire. The shot failed to reach. Hull now deter- 




THE ESCAPE OF THE "CONSTITUTION" 



I 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 159 

mined to show what he could do, and had a long 
twenty-four brought up to the poop, from which, at 
seven o'clock, he returned the fire. This ball also fell 
short, but it warned the British captain not to trust 
himself too near, as his boats' crews would be in dan- 
ger. The British vessels, however, could be towed 
out to each side of the " Constitution " and in this 
way have her at a fatal disadvantage if a wind should 
spring up. 

In this serious dilemma Lieutenant Morris came to 
the rescue. He had had experience in kedging — tow- 
ing a ship by means of an anchor carried ahead with a 
line to draw up to. Sounding showed that the water 
was little over one hundred and fifty feet deep and he 
suggested this plan, which Hull eagerly embraced. 

A boat was sent ahead with a small anchor, carrying 
out a half-mile of ropes and cables knotted together. 
When the anchor was dropped the men hauled vigor- 
ously in on the line, with the effect that the speed of 
the vessel changed from one mile to about three miles 
an hour. Another anchor was meanwhile dropped 
and this work was kept up until the frigate had made 
a substantial gain in distance. 

All day long the kedging process was continued, 
light breezes at times swelling the sails and enabling 
the boats to be called in, then dying out and rendering 
kedging again necessary. But after an hour or two 
the British caught on to the device and began kedging 
also, and by two o'clock the " Constitution " was in 
serious danger again. At three a light breeze rose 
and filled out the sails for the next four hours, when 
it failed and they had to take to the boats again. 

Thus it kept on all night long, and by four the next 
morning the " Belvidera " and the " Eolus " had 



i6o HEROES OF THE NAVY 

gained positions well up on the two sides of the Amer- 
ican ship. There was a light breeze, and as Hull's 
only course was one that would bring him within 
range of one of his enemies, he chose the " Eolus." 
He passed her within range of her long guns, but with- 
out drawing her fire. This gave him a chance again; 
the ships of the enemy being once more all astern. 
He thus escaped the threatening danger of being sur- 
rounded. The line-of-battle ship had now dropped so 
far behind as to be out of the race. During that day 
there was more wind than on the day before, and by 
taking every advantage of it the " Constitution " 
gained slightly, having by noon put three and a half 
miles between her and the nearest foe. For the first 
time, during their thirty-six hours of almost constant 
labor, the men had a chance for rest, and soon officers 
and men were sleeping soundly on the deck, though 
Captain Hull did not for a minute leave his post. By 
four o'clock the old trouble returned, the wind failed, 
and the men had to take to the boats again. 

With hopeful eyes the Americans now saw indica- 
tions of a stirring change. A heavy cloud to south and 
east gave promise of one of the black squalls common 
off the American coast. To deceive the English, who 
were not familiar with these signs, Hull kept the boats 
out still, the men on deck meanwhile being kept in 
readiness to take instant steps to shorten sail when 
the wind came. Not until the critical moment were 
the men in the boats called in, and they had barely 
got on board when the squall struck the ship. Looking 
at the enemy, Hull saw with satisfaction that the men 
were climbing aloft and hastily furling everything, 
and that, having no time to get in their boats, they 
had cut them loose to shift for themselves. Down 



HEROES OF THE NAVY i6i 

came the rain and vapor, hiding the " Constitution " 
from British eyes. Instantly the sails, which had been 
simply dropped loose, none of them being furled, were 
spread again, and away the good ship " went on an 
easy bowline at the rate of eleven knots an hour." 

The squall had saved the " Constitution." Whcti 
it passed off she had gained miles on the enemy. Thc.t 
night the winds were again light and baffling, but by 
keeping his sails wet Captain Hull managed to get 
speed out of every breath of air, and when day dawned 
again the pursuers were so far in the rear that only 
their higher sails were visible. Shortly after daybreak 
the British gave up the chase in despair, and the 
" Constitution " squared away for port, to take in 
another supply of water to replace that she had started 
to lighten ship. From Friday afternoon to Monday 
morning the chase had kept up, being in character 
and result one of the most remarkable ever seen. 

We must now hasten on to the great event in Cap- 
tain Hull's career, the famous fight with one of his 
late pursuers, the " Guerriere," the contest which 
opened the great game of American naval victories 
during that war. On August i8, when in the north- 
ern New England waters, a privateer captain informed 
him that the day before he had seen a British frigate 
sailing southward. The " Constitution " was headed 
in that direction, and just before two o'clock of the 
next day came from aloft the welcome hail of 
"Sail-ho!" 

It proved to be a large ship heading to the south- 
west, and by 3.30 o'clock the " Constitution " was 
near enough to make out that it was a British frigate, 
and also that it had no thought of flight, for it was 
waiting for the Americans with the British flag dis- 
11 



i62 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

played. It was the " Guerriere," a ship that had for a 
year been engaged in impressing seamen from Amer- 
ican ships. Captain Dacres fancied that he would have 
as easy work now as with a merchantman, for when he 
saw the American flag flying at the mast-head of the 
stranger, he said to his crew : 

" There is a Yankee frigate ; in forty-five minutes 
she is certainly ours. Take her in fifteen and I prom- 
ise you four months' pay." This was not especially 
boastful in Dacres. It was the common sentiment 
of British naval ofiicers at that time. They had not 
yet had their lesson. 

At about 4.20 the " Guerriere " opened fire and kept 
it up at intervals while Captain Hull was shortening 
sail, he meanwhile replying with an occasional shot. 
Finding that the " Guerriere " was keeping out of 
easy range, Hull spread his maintopgallant and fore- 
sails and drew closer, a big shot at length striking his 
hull and doing some damage. This kept on for some 
time without a return, despite the impatience of the 
men, Hull replying to all questions if they should open 
fire: " Not yet." 

At length they came so close that the stern of the 
" Constitution " overreached the quarter of the " Guer- 
riere " a few yards away ; her guns were brought to 
bear; then, stooping till "he split his knee-breeches 
from waistband to buckle," Hull straightened up again 
and shouted in a voice of thunder: 

" Now, boys ; pour it into them ! " 

They obeyed with a fierce yell; the guns seemed to 
roar out in one grand explosion ; tlie balls tore and 
rent through the timbers of the " Guerriere," leaving 
death and ruin in their track. It was 6.05 o'clock. For 
the next fifteen minutes the roar of artillery and the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 163 

crash of musketry were incessant. The ships lay 
yard arm to yard arm, and every shot told. But the 
British fired in mad haste ; the Americans used haste 
only in loading and fired with deliberation, aiming for 
spar or hull. At the end of the fifteen minutes the 
mizzen-mast of the " Guerriere " fell. Waving his 
hat. Captain Hull shouted: 

" Hurrah, my boys ! We 've made a brig of her." 

As it chanced, the mast held by its rigging and 
dragged in the water, bringing the ship partly around. 
The " Constitution " forged ahead, swung across her 
bows, and poured in a raking broadside. Down came 
the " Guerriere's " mainyard. Then, swinging round 
before the wind, the " Constitution " raked her with 
the port battery. So close now were the ships that 
the bowsprit of the Briton stood over the American's 
quarterdeck. For a few moments the two ships hung 
together and both sides made movements to board. 
Then the " Constitution " pulled clear, opened fire 
again, and down with a crash came the badly wounded 
main and foremasts of the " Guerriere," leaving her a 
floating and leaking hull. Less than thirty minutes 
had passed since the " Constitution " fired her first 
broadside. Seventy-nine of the " Guerriere's " men 
lay dead and wounded, while on the " Constitution " 
only fourteen had fallen. 

Hull now drew off for hasty repairs to his rigging, 
but soon came back with loaded guns. There was no 
flag flying on the " Guerriere." When asked if he had 
surrendered, Dacres hesitated, and with great reluct- 
ance finally admitted that he had. When brought on 
the " Constitution," he made a formal offer of his 
sword, but Hull refused to accept it. 

" No, no," he said, " I will not take a sword from 



i64 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

one who knows so well how to use it ; but I '11 trouble 
you for that hat." 

Those words referred to the fact that Dacres and 
Hull had met before the war, and Dacres had bet a 
hat that, if they ever met, the " Guerriere " would whip 
the " Constitution." Hull had accepted the bet — and 
had won. 

We shall only say further of this fight that the 
" Guerriere " was such a hopeless wreck that nothing 
remained but to set her on fire and blow her up, and 
that Hull and his crew received a rousing welcome 
when the " Constitution," draped from peak to deck 
in bunting, sailed into Boston harbor, the victor in 
the first great naval contest of the war. In fact, it 
was the first important success in the war, by land or 
sea, and had a special significance in teaching the 
world that the navy of Great Britain was not invinci- 
ble, as had been claimed for it. It was the first of 
many object lessons in naval warfare during that con- 
flict, and as the first was received with the wildest 
enthusiasm. 

A banquet was given to the officers of the " Consti- 
tution " in Faneuil Hall, presided over by ex-Presi- 
dent Adams, the first advocate of a national navy in 
the Colonial Congress. Congress voted a gold medal 
to Captain Hull and silver medals to his officers, and 
gave $50,000 to the crew. Lieutenant Morris was 
given a piece of silver plate by the people of his native 
town. Lieutenant Wadsworth a sword by his fellow- 
townsmen of Portland, Maine, and Midshipman Mor- 
gan and Taylor swords by the state of Virginia. 
There was no longer any doubt of the prowess of our 
navy ; the nation went wild with exultation, and that 
veneration for " Old Ironsides " began which was to 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 165 

be added to by the later memorable achievements of 
the " Constitution." 

With this fine victory Captain Hull passes out of 
history as a hero of the sea. Bainbridge succeeded 
him in command of the " Constitution," which not 
long afterwards fought its phenomenal contest with 
the " Java." Captain Hull became a member of the 
Naval Board, and after the war was variously engaged 
— as commander of the navy yards at Boston and 
Washington, and as commodore of the Mediterranean 
and Pacific squadrons. From 1839 to 1841 he com- 
manded the ship-of-the-line " Ohio," flagship of the 
European squadron. After retiring he resided at 
Philadelphia, where he died in 1843, his last words 
being : " I strike my flag." Death was the only 
antagonist to whom he was ready to strike his flag. 



JACOB JONES AND HIS GREAT FIGHT IN 
A HATTERAS GALE 

Jacob Jones, a native of Delaware, he being born 
near Smyrna, in that state, in March, 1768, gave no 
indication in his early career that he would become 
famous as a victor upon the sea. He never set foot 
on deck until he was past thirty years of age. Study- 
ing medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, he 
practiced it for some years at Dover, Delaware. But 
the profession was not to his taste, and he deserted 
it in 1792 to become clerk of the Supreme Court of 
Delaware for Kent County. This, too, he grew weary 
of after seven years' service, and on April 10, 1799, 
he entered the navy as a midshipman, perhaps the 
oldest " middy " ever known in our naval establish- 
ment. 

His first term of service was on the " United 
States," under Captain John Barry, in a cruise to the 
West Indies. From her he was transferred to the 
" Ganges," and afterwards to the " Philadelphia." He 
was on this ship in that perilous adventure when it ran 
aground in the harbor of Tripoli and fell a prey to 
the piratical Moors. Jones shared the sorry fate of 
Captain Bainbridge and his crew, being imprisoned 
for nineteen months in the castle of the Bashaw 
until the latter was forced to release his captives. 

After his return to the United States Midshipman 

Jones was raised to the rank of lieutenant and, after 

serving for a time at the New Orleans naval station, 

was put in command of the sloop " Argus." In April, 

166 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 167 

1810, he was transferred as captain to the " Wasp," 
the second of the three ships of that name. Making 
a voyage to Europe as a bearer of despatches, he re- 
turned home in 1812, after war had been declared 
against Great Britain. In this war Captain Jones 
was to show the stuff of which he was made and win 
a great name for the httle " Wasp." 

We have told the story of the final " Wasp " and 
of how well she fought under Captain Blakeley. We 
have now to tell that of her predecessor, " Wasp " 
the second. A little craft she was, rigged Hke a ship 
and rated as a sloop-of-war, but of about the size of a 
small ocean schooner of to-day. Her armament con- 
sisted of sixteen short thirty-twos and two long 
twelves. After reaching America, Captain Jones had 
his ship thoroughly overhauled and refitted for the 
service that lay before it, setting sail from Philadel- 
phia on October 13, 18 12, with one hundred and 
thirty-seven men on board. His purpose was to haunt 
the track of British merchantmen trading with the 
West Indies. 

The " Wasp " plunged into a storm almost at the 
start, losing two men on the 15th. These men were 
at work on the jib when the ship, in a fierce plunge 
down a wave, buried her bowsprit so deeply in the 
stormy waters that when she rose it snapped off with 
the men upon it. 

The gale continued to blow hard for two days, the 
sea rising to ugly dimensions, but the " Wasp " fought 
her way through the heaving waves till the night of 
the 17th. By this time the wind had fallen a little, 
though it still had the force of a gale. The " Wasp " 
was not alone in the storm. At near midnight a 
number of lights were seen, showing that several 



i68 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

vessels were abroad in the tempest, seeking to weather 
the gale. 

This was interesting to Captain Jones, who was 
abroad in search of wandering craft, and he hauled 
to the wind, that he might keep them in his vicinity 
during the night. Daylight came in due time, and 
he saw before him a sight much to his liking — a fleet 
of six big merchantmen, under charge of a brig of 
about the size of the " Wasp." The task before Cap- 
tain Jones, if these should prove to be enemies, was no 
light one, for in addition to the armament of the brig, 
some of the merchant ships carried guns, and might 
have the pluck to use them. It afterwards appeared 
that the brig was the " Frolic," Captain Whingates, 
and that the convoy had originally been composed 
of fourteen ships, bound from British Honduras to 
England. The storm had scattered them, only six 
remaining in sight of the brig. 

Sure that he had an enemy before him, and bent on 
finding this out in the most expeditious way. Captain 
Jones brought his ship into fighting trim and squared 
away for the fleet. The " Frolic " had sprung her 
mainyard and was making repairs when day broke, 
but she at once bore up to meet the coming stranger. 
Yet the necessity of carrying very short sail in so heavy 
a wind made their approach a slow one, and it was 
after eleven o'clock when they came close enough to 
reach each other with their guns. 

The " Frolic " hoisted a Spanish flag, a ruse which 
did not deceive Captain Jones, and he held to his 
course until the two ships, both running almost before 
the wind, were less than sixty yards apart. The 
" Wasp " had the better situation, being a little to 
windward. For a few minutes they ran on in this 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 169 

way, and then from Captain Jones came the hail : 
"What ship is that?" 

It brought a prompt response. The Spanish flag 
came down, and up went the standard of England ; 
and as it was mounting aloft a broadside was fired. 
Fortunately for the " Wasp," this was done with that 
lack of skill so often shown in the English gunnery 
of that day, the guns being fired just as a strong blast 
keeled the brig over, so that the balls whistled harm- 
lessly through the upper air. Jones waited until his 
ship rolled over on a wave towards the enemy, and 
then delivered his broadside, the balls striking squarely 
in the " Frolic's " timbers. 

The battle that followed was one of remarkable 
character, being fought in the teeth of a Hatteras 
gale. Though the wind had fallen somewhat from 
its storm proportions, it was still tempestuous and the 
seas heavy, the ships rolling and wallowing as they 
fought. The rammers, as they were thrust into the 
guns, at one moment pointed at the clouds and the 
next dipped into the foam that rose to the sills of the 
ports. At times even the muzzles of the guns dipped 
into it, while spray in masses splashed over the bul- 
warks. The smoke from the guns was instantly swept 
away by the wind, so that the gunners had always a 
clear view and could aim with effect. 

The howling of the winds had little effect upon the 
gunners, who worked in wild excitement, the roar of 
the pieces drowning the noise of the gale. Loading 
and firing with frantic haste, shouting and cheering 
as the balls struck, there seemed a double set of de- 
mons abroad, those of the storm and those who dis- 
dained the wild winds in their warlike rage. But the 
battle continued as it had begun, the Englishmen fir- 



170 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ing in haste, sending three broadsides to the Yankees' 
two, and wasting the bulk of their metal ; the Ameri- 
cans waiting till the roll of the ship brought their guns 
into position to do the best work before they pulled 
the lanyards. The result was that while the hull of the 
" Frolic " was frightfully rent and torn, scarcely a 
ball struck the side of the " Wasp," the execution 
done her being in the rigging and spars. 

Here the " Wasp " was badly cut up. Four minutes 
after the first broadside her maintopmast was shot 
through and fell. Ten minutes later the mizzen-top- 
gallant mast suffered the same fate. At twenty min- 
utes from the beginning of the action every brace and 
most of the rigging was shot away. But the wind 
drove both ships along side by side, and the fight kept 
on. In the plight of the " Wasp " the " Frolic " could 
easily have hauled away on the port tack and escaped, 
but her captain was there to fight it out, not to flee. 
There was too much genuine Anglo-Saxon blood pres- 
ent on both sides for either to think of running away. 

The " Wasp," squared away by the falling of the 
maintopmast, now drew ahead and somewhat across 
the bow of the " Frolic," and the two ships came so 
close together that some of the men on the " Wasp " 
touched the bows of the enemy with their rammers as 
they reached out to swab the guns. Then, with a 
crash, the ships came together in such a position that 
two of the guns on the " Wasp " pointed through the 
bow-ports of the " Frolic " and directly along her gun 
deck. At that instant the word to fire was given, and 
the balls swept the full length of the deck, doing 
fearful execution. 

The next wave caused the " Wasp " to forge ahead 
until the bowsprit of the enemy caught fast in her 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 171 

mizzen rigging and the two ships were held firmly in 
contact. The men had wished to board at the first 
touch, but the captain held them to their guns. He 
now wished to fire a second broadside, but the excited 
fellows were past holding back. One athletic chap, 
Jack Long, a Jerseyman, who had at one time been 
impressed in the British service, caught his cutlass be- 
tween his teeth, seized the rigging of the bowsprit of 
the " Frolic," and swung himself upward. '* Come 
down! " roared Captain Jones, but Jack had no notion 
of obeying, and a dozen others were rushing from 
their guns to join him. Seeing this, Jones recognized 
that the men were past stopping and gave the order 
to board. 

Lieutenant Biddle sprang on the bulwarks to lead, 
but his feet caught in the hammocks. Little Midship- 
man Baker seized his coat-tails to help himself up, and 
a surge of the ship flung them both back on the deck. 
Jack Long was left alone on the enemy's deck. But 
Biddle was quickly up again and had joined him. Oth- 
ers follov/ed along the bowsprit, and soon a dozen 
were on the deck. They saw Jack Long standing 
alone, without an enemy in his front, and gazing aft 
over a nearly empty deck. A quartermaster, bleeding 
from a wound, stood firmly at the wheel ; three offi- 
cers, two of them hurt, were grouped at the taflf- 
rail beyond. That was all — not another living man 
was visible, though the dead were there in numbers, 
and the water that washed in at the scuppers was 
reddened with their blood. 

The British flag was still flying, but when Lieu- 
tenant Biddle and the men started aft the three offi- 
cers who stood there threw down their swords, and 
one of them turned away, his face buried in his hands. 



172 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Biddle himself hauled down the flag and reported 
to Captain Jones the surrender of the ship. 

It came none too soon, for another raking hroad- 
side would have left scarcely a man unhurt on the 
ship. When the Americans went below they found 
the deck covered with the wounded, less than twenty 
out of the hundred and two of the crew being un- 
hurt. The captain and first lieutenant were badly 
wounded and two others of the officers killed. The 
masts were so badly cut that, shortly after the ves- 
sels drifted apart, the main-mast broke short off at the 
deck and the foremast twelve feet above. The hull 
was shot full of holes. As for the " Wasp," she had 
five men killed and five wounded, nearly all of them 
struck while aloft. The battle had lasted just forty- 
three minutes, and had been fought while the ships 
were rolling and plunging in a cross sea. 

We have now to tell the unlucky outcome of Cap- 
tain Jones's signal victory. Placing a prize crew 
on the " Frolic," he began to make what repairs 
he could aloft, hoping to overhaul some of the mer- 
chantmen of the convoy. He had scarcely begun 
this work when a sail was seen rising to windward. 
Thinking that it might be one of the merchantmen, 
the men hurried their labors. When it came in fuller 
view they ceased working, for it was evident that 
the new-comer was a large war-vessel. It proved to 
be the " Poictiers," a seventy-four ship-of-the-line, 
coming in time to rob Captain Jones of the fruits of 
his victory. 

Fight and flight were alike out of the question, and 
the " Poictiers " picked up the " Wasp," and her vic- 
tim, and carried them both to the Bermudas. The 
" Wasp " was gone from the American navy, but it 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 173 

proved of no advantage to the British, into which it 
was taken without change of name, for it was lost at 
sea without having been able to strike a blow against 
its late owners. 

Captain Jones and his crew soon obtained an ex- 
change, and returned home to be received with honor 
and enthusiasm. A gold medal was voted him by 
Congress, and silver ones to his officers, and the crew 
received $25,000 to repay them for the loss of their 
prize money. The state of Delaware presented Jones 
with a handsome piece of plate. He had hitherto 
ranked only as a lieutenant on the naval list, but in 
March, 181 3, was raised to the rank of captain and 
given command of the late British frigate " Mace- 
donian," which Decatur had taken and brought to the 
United States. 

There was no other notable deed to the credit of 
Captain Jones during the war. In 181 5 he was with 
the " Macedonian " in Decatur's Mediterranean squad- 
ron, and was present at the disciplining of the Dey 
of Algiers. Later, from 1821 to 1824, he served as 
commodore in command of the Mediterranean, and 
from 1826 to 1829 of the Pacific squadron. At later 
dates he held several home positions in the naval es- 
tablishment. His shore duties included that of com- 
mander of the Baltimore squadron, port captain of 
the harbor of New York, commissary of the United 
States Naval Board, and governor of the Philadelphia 
Naval Asylum. He died in Philadelphia, August 3, 
1850. 



JAMES LAWRENCE, WHOSE DYING 

WORDS WERE "DON'T GIVE 

UP THE SHIP" 

One phrase made one man famous. This man was 
James Lawrence, with his historic " Don't give up the 
ship ! " Spoken at a critical moment and indicating 
an inflexible spirit, it has been taken as representative 
of the highest type of the American character. A 
young man still when he nobly died for his country's 
honor, James Lawrence was born in Burlington, New 
Jersey, October i, 1781. He began the study of law 
in 1794, and of navigation and naval tactics in 1796, 
and became a midshipman in the navy in 1798, his 
first cruise being to the West Indies in the ship 
" Ganges." 

Serving as an acting lieutenant in 1800, he was 
promoted to that rank in 1802, and as such was pres- 
ent at the siege of Tripoli by Commodore Preble and 
was one of that intrepid band that captured and 
burned the " Philadelphia " under the guns of the 
Moorish batteries. He was the first officer under 
Decatur in this daring adventure, the first officer 
of the " Enterprise " in the bombardment of Tripoli, 
and as commander of a gunboat made the capture of 
an Algerian vessel. 

After his return to the United States Lawrence was 
put in command of gunboat No, 6, and in 1807-08 
served as first lieutenant on the " Constitution." Dur- 
ing the years 1808- 11 he was successively in com- 
mand of the " Wasp," the " Vixen," and the " Argus," 
174 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 175 

three of the smaller vessels of the navy, and in the 
latter year he was raised to the rank of captain and 
assigned to the " Hornet." These were the days 
when seamen were being taken by force from Ameri- 
can merchant ships, on the theory that they were Brit- 
ish subjects — the fact being that little discrimination 
was used and American citizens were frequently 
taken. 

While this was bad enough when peaceful merchant- 
men were treated in this way, it became a rankling 
offence when American men-of-war were dealt with 
in the same arbitrary fashion. The first case of the 
kind was that of the " Baltimore " in 1798. While 
convoying some merchantmen from Charleston to Ha- 
vana, this ship was stopped by a powerful British 
squadron, consisting of three ships-of-the-line and two 
frigates, and five of its men were taken by force. The 
second insult of this kind came in 1805, Lieutenant 
Lawrence being its victim. He was then in command 
of a small gunboat in the Mediterranean. Falling into 
the midst of the British fleet, he was stopped and three 
of his men taken off, in defiance of his protests. Law- 
rence had to bottle up his indignation, but he got his 
revenge in later years, when the " Hornet " met the 
" Peacock." These insults were at that time swallowed 
tamely by the American administration. They were 
received with less equanimity in later years and were 
among the chief causes which led to the declaration 
of war in 1812. 

The " Hornet," which Lawrence commanded at this 
epoch, was classed as a sloop-of-war. Originally a 
brig, she, like the " Wasp," was given a three-masted 
rig at a later date, being armed with eighteen short 
thirty-two and two long twelve-pounders. 



176 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

In the latter part of 18 12 the " Hornet" left Bos- 
ton in company with the " Constitution," the " Essex " 
being ordered to join them off the capes of the Dela- 
ware, which she failed to do. They were bound on 
a long voyage to the East Indies for the destruction of 
the enemy's commerce in those waters, but circum- 
stances prevented them from reaching their destina- 
tion. These circumstances were that they found more 
lively work awaiting them in South American waters, 
the " Constitution " having her memorable passage-at- 
arms with the " Java " and the " Hornet " finding 
similar active work to do. 

On arriving off the port of Bahia, in Brazil, they 
found the British warship " Bonne Citoyen " at anchor 
in the harbor. This ship was an excellent match for 
the " Hornet," being of the same size and nearly the 
same armament. And the " Bonne Citoyen " had a 
good record to her credit, for in 1809 she had fought 
and captured a French frigate of the largest class. 
But when Lawrence challenged Captain Greene to go 
outside of neutral waters and have a square fight for 
the honor of their flags, the British captain declined. 
Although both Lawrence and Bainbridge promised 
that the " Constitution " should not interfere, Greene 
replied that he was not ready to trust such a prom- 
ise and that Bainbridge's duty to his flag would con- 
strain him to break his word. 

The fact is, cowardice was his real reason, for 
when Bainbridge took his ship away, on that memor- 
able expedition in which he met the " Java," Captain 
Greene still remained in the harbor. And when the 
"Constitution" left Bahia, on January 6, 1813, on 
its way home to refit, Lawrence still held the " Bonne 
Citoyen " a fixture in the harbor, its captain declining 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 177 

to fight. He continued to blockade the cowardly- 
Greene until the 24th, when a British seventy-four 
came within sight and the " Hornet " found it con- 
venient to seek another resting place. 

Lawrence now set sail on a cruise along the coast 
of South America, in which he made several prizes, 
one of them being a brig called the " Resolution." 
This carried $25,000 in specie, for which he found 
room on his own ship, and then burned the brig, it 
not being convenient to send her in. Such was the 
type of incidents met by him until February 24, when 
the " Hornet " reached the mouth of the Demerara 
River, in British Guiana, and there espied at anchor a 
war-brig, the " Espiegle." 

While seeking an opportunity to get at this ship, 
which lay in British waters and was therefore fully 
open to attack, another sail came in view. In Law- 
rence's words, the " Hornet's " look-out, " at half-past 
three p.m. discovered another sail on our weather 
quarter, edging down for us. At twenty minutes past 
four she hoisted English colors, at which we discovered 
her to be a large man-of-war brig, beat to quarters, 
cleared ship for action, and kept close to the wind in 
order, if possible, to get the weather gauge." 

Lawrence succeeded in this, after an hour's evolu- 
tions by both vessels, then brought the " Hornet " 
round from the port to the starboard tack and headed 
her across the bows of the enemy, who was coming 
up on the port tack. Thus for fifteen minutes the 
two ships, flying their colors and sailing in nearly 
opposite directions, drew nearer and nearer until the 
hour of 5.25. Then, passing each other " within half- 
pistol shot," both opened fire, not in broadsides, but 
firing gun after gun as they could be brought to bear. 
12 



178 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The shots from the Briton flew high, kilHng one and 
wounding two men in the " Hornet's " tops. Those of 
the " Hornet " squarely struck the enemy's hull and 
did much mischief there. 

Passing in an instant of time the two vessels changed 
their course, the " Peacock," as the British ship was 
named, wearing round before the wind, the " Hornet " 
squaring away across her stern. In five minutes' time 
they were close together again, the " Hornet's " bow 
against the enemy's quarter and her guns playing with 
murderous speed and skill. The British captain fell 
dead, the crew shrank from the terrible hail that swept 
their decks, and, at 5.39, their flag came down, the 
fight having lasted just fourteen minutes. 

The work of the Americans had been immensely 
efifective. While their ship had scarcely suffered at 
all, the " Peacock " was fairly shot to pieces. Her 
main-mast fell just after the flag came down, and she 
was shot so full of holes that the water poured in 
much faster than it could be pumped out. It was im- 
possible to save her, and her men were taken off as 
rapidly as possible. But she sank so quickly that 
three Americans and nine Englishmen who were below 
were lost. As she went down quietly into the smooth 
and shallow waters, four of her men climbed into the 
fore-rigging, which stood above the surface, while the 
men on deck were saved by scrambling into the launch, 
which lay in the booms amidship and floated clear as 
the ship sank. As it proved, only a single British ball 
had struck the " Hornet's " hull, and that glanced off 
without damage. There were found to be three im- 
pressed Americans in the crew of the " Peacock," one 
of them a relative of Captain Lawrence's wife. They 
had requested to be spared from firing on their coun- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 179 

trymen, but Captain Peake had driven them to the 
guns and one of them was killed. 

The " Peacock " disposed of, the " Hornet " had 
another possible fight on her hands. The " Espiegle " 
lay only six miles away during the action, and Law- 
rence expected to have her to deal with, but she did 
not come out. As she evidently did not want to fight 
and as the " Hornet's " crew were on a short allow- 
ance of water, Lawrence waited only until the next 
morning, and then set sail north, putting all hands on 
a half-ration of water. There were 277 men on 
board, half of them prisoners. 

Hull, Decatur, and Bainbridge had been met with 
an enthusiastic reception on their return home from 
their victories, and the same reception awaited Law- 
rence when the news of his victory got abroad. As 
usual in such cases, Congress voted a gold medal, 
but this time it was to go to his nearest living relative, 
since before the vote was taken Lawrence had ceased 
to live. Promoted, as a further reward, to the com- 
mand of the frigate " Chesapeake," the honor cost him 
his life. 

Lawrence had asked for the " Constitution," but was 
sent, much against his will, to the " Chesapeake." He 
disliked her from the fact that she was looked upon 
as the unlucky ship of the navy, she having heretofore 
had no good fortune in her cruises. When Lawrence 
took command she was practically without a crew, 
most of her men having left her, their time of service 
having expired and there being a dispute about prize 
money. Among those left on board, there was a con- 
siderable number of foreigners, thirty-two of them 
being Englishmen, while the boatswain's mate, who 
had much influence over them, was a Portuguese. 



i8o HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Lawrence made all haste to fill up his crew, but 
good seamen were difficult to find, the privateers hav- 
ing picked up many of the best men. The crew he 
got together was one of varied elements. It had a 
fair number of experienced men, but a larger number 
of green, untrained hands. 

The " Chesapeake " was being fitted out for a voy- 
age eastward, to pick up British ships bound for the 
St. Lawrence. The " Hornet " was to join her at 
Cape Canso. Meanwhile the port of Boston was 
under blockade by a ship-of-the-line and the frigate 
" Shannon," Captain Broke, one of the ships that had 
chased the " Constitution " in its sixty hours' run. 
Eager for a fight with the " Chesapeake," of whose 
presence and preparation he was well aware. Broke 
induced the captain of the larger ship to leave him 
alone on blockade, as an incitement for the Americans 
to come out. He felt sure in his own mind of beating 
them. 

An able man was Broke, one of the ablest then in 
the British navy. Instead of dealing with his men 
in the slovenly manner of other captains of his time, 
he had taken a lesson from the Americans and care- 
fully trained them in the handling and firing of guns, 
his ship being about the only British craft afloat at 
!he time whose crew had been taught the art of aiming 
carefully and shooting straight. 

Eager for an opportunity to try the mettle of his 
crew of trained gunners, he wrote a challenge to Law- 
rence, inviting him to come out and fight, " ship to 
ship, to try the fortunes of our respective flags." 
Lawrence did not get this missive, which was like that 
he had sent the " Bonne Gtoyen." He did not wait for 
it. On learning that a single British frigate lay out- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY i8i 

side, he was all eagerness to meet and try conclusions 
with it, inspired by the feeling which past success had 
aroused in the American heart, that no British ship was 
a match for an American one of equal strength. He 
took no account of the question of equal preparation. 

Carried away by a boyish desire " to be at them," and 
heedless of the lessons of prudence and judgment, he 
was all on fire to try conclusions with the English- 
man, and did not wait a day after getting the last of 
his men on board before he spread his sails and moved 
out of the harbor. The men did not know the offi- 
cers ; they did not know each other ; they did not know 
their places at ropes or guns ; they were utterly un- 
trained to work together. The haste, indeed, was 
such that the last who came on board were not even 
given time to stow away their clothes and hammocks, 
but were put at once to the work of getting the ship 
under way. It was a piece of midsummer madness of 
the most lamentable kind. 

Six years before, in June, 1807, the " Chesapeake " 
had gone to sea in a similar state of ill-preparation. In 
no sense ready for sea, she had put out from Norfolk, 
having among her crew several deserters from British 
ships. In this condition she had been boarded by 
officers from the frigate " Leopard " with the demand 
that these men should be given up. On refusal to 
do so, the " Leopard " had opened fire and kept it up 
for twelve minutes, without her crew being able to 
return a shot. Three men were killed and eighteen 
wounded, Captain Barron among the latter, before he 
hauled down his flag and reluctantly consented to give 
up the men. 

This experience of the ship should have been a 
warning to Captain Lawrence, but it was not. Spread- 



i82 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ing full sail, he drove before the wind out of the har- 
bor, inspired by but one thought, to get at the enemy, 
trusting to luck and American pluck for all besides. 
The event proved that American judgment and caution 
were equally necessary. 

On the way out Captain Lawrence spoke to the 
men, seeking to inspire them with his own enthusiasm, 
but the members of the old crew, led by the Portu- 
guese boatswain's mate, interrupted him by demands 
for their prize money. In the emergency Lawrence 
yielded to their claims, called them to the cabin, and 
gave them checks for the prize money due. As it 
proved in the end, this concession did not remove their 
discontent. 

The " Shannon " was waiting when the " Chesa- 
peake " came out. At 5.50 p.m. Lawrence luffed up 
and backed his mainyard within fifty yards of the 
" Shannon's " weather quarter. He had the opportu- 
nity of wearing up under her stern and raking her, 
but chivalrously desisted from doing so. At the hour 
named the first gun was fired from the " Shannon," 
and the battle was on, both sides loading and firing 
rapidly, but the well-trained gunners of the " Shan- 
non " doing far the most execution. 

The marksmen in the tops of the " Shannon " swept 
the deck of the " Chesapeake " with a shower of mus- 
ket balls, shooting three quarter-masters at the wheel 
in quick succession, striking Lawrence in the leg and 
mortally wounding Lieutenant Ludlow. Grape and 
musketry were fast driving all the men from the upper 
deck. A hand grenade flung from the " Shannon " 
fell in the arms chest on the lee quarter-deck of the 
" Chesapeake," exploding it and filling the air with 
smoke and splinters. The rigging was badly cut. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 183 

There was no one forward to see the orders of the cap- 
tain obeyed ; everything was amiss. The " Chesa- 
peake " was being forced by the wind stern on into the 
" Shannon," and ten minutes after the first shot was 
fired the ships were afoul. 

Lawrence called for boarders, but the negro bugler 
had vanished and only a few men answered his call. 
All these could do was to seek to repel boarders. 
At this moment a ball struck Captain Lawrence in 
the abdomen, inflicting a mortal wound. He was 
carried below. A few minutes afterward, noting that 
the firing had slackened, he called out: 

" Tell the men to fire faster and not give up the ship! 
The colors shall wave while I live ! " 

It was an order that could not be carried out. In 
the confusion following Lawrence's fall, Captain Broke 
had led his men in an impetuous charge to the deck of 
the " Chesapeake," and a hand-to-hand fight was going 
on with the few men there to meet him. For a few 
minutes the fight was a desperate one. Captain Broke 
was cut down with a blow that split his skull and ex- 
posed his brain. The Americans fought stubbornly, 
but the help they should have had from below did not 
come, the rascally Portuguese taking the gratings from 
the lower hatch and leading the foreigners down to the 
hold. In a few minutes the struggle was over, and 
at 6.05 British hands hauled down the American flag. 
They had captured the " Chesapeake " in just fifteen 
minutes. 

Then to Halifax went the " Shannon " in triumph 
with her prize. Captain Lawrence in ignorance of the 
loss of his ship, for he had grown delirious, and re- 
peated over and over again the last order he had given : 
" Don't give up the ship ! " He died just before Hali- 



i84 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

fax was reached. Captain Broke was also delirious, 
but had the better fortune to recover from his wound. 

The body of the slain hero was received with every 
mark of honor in Halifax, and his corpse and that of 
Lieutenant Ludlow were subsequently brought back 
under a flag of truce to New York. Here they 
were buried in Trinity churchyard. On the deck of 
the " Constitution," the ship on which he first received 
promotion, were engraved his last words, " Don't give 
up the ship." And on his monument in old Trinity 
yard may to-day be read the inscription: 

" Neither the fury of battle, the anguish of a mortal 
wound, nor the horrors of approaching death could 
subdue his gallant spirit. His dying words were: 

" ' Don't give up the ship.' " 



CHARLES MORRIS AND THE CRUISE OF 
THE "ADAMS" 

It is an interesting fact that many of the men who 
afterwards became prominent in naval history were 
concerned in the loss and the burning of the " Phila- 
delphia." Among those taken captive at the loss of 
the frigate were Captain Bainbridge and Midshipman 
Jones, the stories of whose careers we have given, 
and Lieutenant Porter, yet to be described. And 
among those who took part in the burning of the frig- 
ate were Stephen Decatur and James Lawrence, al- 
ready treated of in our pages, Thomas Macdonough, 
the future hero of Lake Champlain, and Charles Mor- 
ris, with whose career we are at present concerned. 
It is not from his natural interest in Morris as a name- 
sake of his own that the author of this work intro- 
duces him in this work, but from the prominent part 
he played in many naval events, and the valor and abil- 
ity which he possessed. 

Charles Morris was born in Woodstock, Maine, 
July 26, 1784. His father was a purser on the frigate 
" Congress," on which he himself was appointed mid- 
shipman when of proper age, his first cruise being to 
the West Indies, during the naval war with France. 
While chasing a small French privateer near shore the 
" Congress " came unobserved by her officers over a 
rocky shallow bottom. A minor officer pointed out the 
fact to Midshipman Morris, who quietly sought the 
captain and told him of the ship's danger. Without 
looking for himself, the captain instantly ordered a 

185 



i86 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

change in her course, and only then glanced over the 
side. It was with a shudder that those on board saw 
the imminent peril of shipwreck they had escaped. 

Morris was soon transferred to the " Constitution " 
and in her took part in the siege of Tripoli. Here his 
most prominent service was in the famous attack on 
the " Philadelphia." We have described this stirring 
incident in our sketch of Decatur, and need only speak 
here of the active part played in it by Midshipman 
Morris. 

When the call of " Boarders, away ! " rang through 
the ship, there was an eager competition to be first 
on board. Midshipman Laws sprang for an open port 
of the frigate, but his pistols caught and held him for a 
moment ; Decatur slipped in his leap, while Morris 
sprang like a cat over the rail and had the honor of 
being the first on board and in the furious charge on 
the Tripolitans, which soon drove them, from the deck. 
The next thing to be done was the firing of the ship, 
which needed to be accomplished at breakneck speed. 
In the rush for this purpose the young midshipman 
had the post of danger, being leader of the men 
selected to fire the cockpit, the lowest point to be 
reached. No time was lost in this, the combustibles 
being quickly placed and effectively kindled. But 
when Morris and his men rushed for the upper deck 
again they found themselves in a position of immi- 
nent danger. The kindling above had been so promptly 
done and the fire had spread so rapidly that flames and 
smoke were already sweeping through the lower deck 
and out of the open ports, and they had to rush through 
fire and flame to reach the upper deck. Decatur was 
there, anxiously awaiting them, and the next moment 
they all tumbled over the rail into the " Mastico," 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 187 

Decatur, the last to leave the deck, having to make a 
long leap, for busy hands were already pushing the 
ketch from the blazing frigate. 

The next event of importance in the siege was the 
gunboat attack under Decatur and Somers in August 
3, in. which Morris took an active part. After this 
action he was transferred to the " Argus," Lieutenant 
Hull, and in this capacity was sent out on the night 
of August 5 in charge of a boat's crew, with orders 
to patrol the entrance to the harbor. While thus en- 
gaged, he found himself suddenly in the presence 
of a vessel, which was quietly making its way out 
by the harbor channel. Without waiting to learn the 
force he had to deal with, Morris impetuously boarded 
this vessel with such suddenness that he carried her 
by surprise. He then found that he had captured a 
friendly craft, the vessel proving to be a French 
privateer which had put into the harbor of Tripoli for 
water. 

We have already told, in our sketch of Captain Hull, 
the next important incident in Morris's career. Pro- 
moted lieutenant in June, 1804, and remaining attached 
to the " Constitution," he was the executive officer of 
that vessel in 181 1, when her teeth were shown to a 
British frigate off Plymouth harbor. This story has 
already been told, and need only be briefly repeated. 
When informed by a British officer, in the absence of 
Captain Hull, that the " Havana," lying near by, had 
an American deserter on board, who could be had by 
sending for him, Morris sent a boat next morning 
with an order for the man. The captain of the " Ha- 
vana " sent back word that he could give him up only 
on an erder from Admiral Sir Roger Curtis. Mor- 
ris then sought the admiral in person, but was in- 



i88 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

formed by him that the man would not be given up, as 
he claimed to be a British subject. 

The whole thing looked like a premeditated insult, 
but Morris had his revenge. The next night a de- 
serter from the " Havana " boarded the " Constitu- 
tion," claiming to be an American, though evidently 
of Irish birth. Morris now turned the tables very 
neatly on the admiral, sending word that he had a 
British deserter on board, then, on his being sent for, 
mildly declining to give him up, as he claimed to be 
an American. 

This has been before told, and also how two British 
frigates tried to entrap the " Constitution " and pur- 
sued her when she left the harbor. As the foremost 
frigate came up within gunshot a fight seemed immi- 
nent. The guns were shotted and the men ready. 
Morris walked along the gimdeck to encourage them, 
but found that they needed no encouragement. The 
captains were bringing their guns to bear upon the 
enemy, and the men, many of them stripped to the 
waist, were all eagerness for the fight to begin. Had 
not the Briton turned tail and run, the attack on the 
" Chesapeake " might then and there have been 
avenged. 

The time was soon to come when the men of the 
" Constitution " would be free to fire. War broke out 
between the two countries, and that good ship was 
quickly upon the waves. Her first adventure was 
that already described, in which she escaped from a 
powerful British squadron after a sixty hours' chase. 
Several times during this chase she was in imminent 
danger of capture, and her escape in what seemed the 
most hopeless situation of all was due to the readiness 
in an emergency of Lieutenant Morris. The men were 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 189 

out in their boats, towing the " Constitution " in a 
calm, but she was fast being overlapped by Her pur- 
suers. At this critical juncture Morris gave the sug- 
gestion that saved her from British hands. He had 
before seen a vessel carried through crooked channels 
by kedging — that is, by dropping an anchor ahead and 
drawing up to it by a long line. Sounding the depth, 
he found that the ship was in water only one hundred 
and fifty-six feet deep, and suggested the expedient 
to Captain Hull. The shrewd captain was quick to 
adopt it, and soon had his ship out of its ugly place. 

We must now go forward to that famous date of 
August 19, 1812, when the "Constitution" met one 
of her late pursuers, the " Guerriere," and won the 
first great victory in American naval history since the 
days of John Paul Jones. Lieutenant Morris was still 
executive officer of the " Constitution," and at the 
request of the impatient gunners he three separate 
times asked the captain for permission to fire, Hull 
each time calmly replying, " Not yet, sir." 

Our readers already know what took place when 
Hull at length gave the word. When the ships ran 
afoul Lieutenant Morris was prompt to take advan- 
tage of the opportunity. Seizing a rope which dangled 
from the bowsprit of the " Guerriere," and climbing 
up, he passed a few turns of the main brace round 
that spar with the purpose of holding the vessels to- 
gether. At this moment he was shot through the 
body by a marksman in the enemy's top and fell heav- 
ily to the deck. Yet, severely as he had been wounded, 
he was on his feet again in a few minutes and back 
at his post, and kept on foot till the surrender took 
place. 

So far we have dealt with Morris as a subordinate 



I90 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ofificer. We have next to do with his career as com- 
mander of a vessel. It was one, indeed, not marked 
by any scene of victorious battle, but it reflected credit 
on him as an able officer. Promoted captain, and re- 
covering from his severe wound, he was assigned to 
the " Adams," then lying at Washington. At the 
opening of the war this ship was rated as a twenty- 
eight-gun frigate. She was altered for service into 
what was called a corvette, a somewhat puzzling term. 
A dictionary of marine terms of that time defines 
" corvette " as " a general name for sloop-of-war and 
all vessels under twenty guns." But the Americans 
applied it to larger vessels, and used it to include the 
largest ships that had only one deck of guns and 
neither poop nor forecastle. As rebuilt, the " Adams " 
was lengthened and armed with thirteen eighteen- 
pounders on each side and a long twelve for a bow- 
chaser. 

Assigned as captain to this ship, with Lieutenant 
Wadsworth, who had been next to him on the " Con- 
stitution," as first officer, Morris set sail on the night 
of January i8, 1814. There was a blockading squad- 
ron of British war-vessels in the Chesapeake, but the 
night was dark and boisterous, and the " Adams " 
drove down the bay at a twelve-knot pace. The dark- 
ness was intense ; there were no beacon lights along 
the bay, and the result was that the ship suddenly 
found herself thumping over a bar. Twice she struck 
heavily on the sand, but the heavy swells lifted her 
clear, and when the captain found that she did not 
leak he decided to keep on. 

Getting to sea without further adventure and with- 
out molestation from the blockaders, the " Adams " 
headed across the Atlantic for the coast of Africa, her 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 191 

chosen cruising ground. Here she jogged along from 
Cape Mount to Cape Pahnas, and then put out to the 
Canaries and the Cape de Verde Islands, taking a 
few small prizes laden with palm oil and ivory, but 
meeting no vessel of larger size. 

On March 25 the " Woodbridge," a large Indiaman, 
was encountered and overhauled. The weather was 
thick at the time, but it suddenly cleared while they 
were taking possession of the prize, and Captain Mor- 
ris found himself in the presence of a fleet of mer- 
chant vessels convoyed by two large frigates. Here 
was company that it was necessary to get away from in 
all haste, and he set out under full sail, hotly pursued 
by the Britons. Skill and speed saved him from cap- 
ture, but it took him a whole day to throw the sleuth- 
hounds from his track. 

This ended the cruise of the " Adams " in those 
waters. Returning to the American coast. Captain 
Morris brought his vessel into the harbor of Savan- 
nah on May i. On the same day the British brig 
'■' Epervier " came in under a prize crew. She had 
been taken by the corvette " Peacock " and proved a 
valuable prize, carrying $120,000 in coin. 

On May 8th the " Adams " took to the seas again, 
now sailing to the Gulf Stream with the hope of inter- 
cepting a merchant fleet from Jamaica. He found it, 
but it was convoyed by almost a fleet of war-vessels, 
embracing a ship-of-the-line, two frigates and three 
brigs. Evidently the British admiralty was growing 
nervous over the exploits of the American cruisers. 
For two days Morris kept the " Adams " on the track 
of this fleet, seeking for prizes, but he could not draw 
the warships away in chase, they keeping so close 
to their charge that he gave them up in disgust. 



192 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

He then made liis way, via the banks of Newfound- 
land, to the Irish coast, and here picked up a few 
prizes, but on July 15th *' stumbled across the eighteen- 
pounder thirty-six-g;un ' Tigris.' " Morris had the 
ill-fortune in this cruise to meet no vessel of his own 
size. The *' Tigris " far outmatched him, and his only 
hope to avoid capture lay in flight. But he had a 
swift hound on his track in the British cruiser, and to 
lessen weight had to throw overboard all the guns taken 
from the captured vessel, his heaviest anchors and fin- 
ally some of his own guns. In the end the w'ind died 
down to a calm, when ]\Iorris repeated the tactics with 
his ship which he had formerly employed on the " Con- 
stitution," towing her away from the heavier " Tigris." 
In this way he increased the distance so gjeatly that 
when the wind rose again he soon dropped his pursuer 
out of sight. 

It seemed to be the mission of the " Adams " to be 
chased and to escape. It was on July 15th that she 
was chased by the " Tigris." On the 19th two new 
frigates got on her track, and she had to take to the 
race-course again. The w'ind was strong, but Morris 
spread every inch of canvas his ship could carry, and 
for forty long hours the " Adams " sped away across 
a strong sea, hotly pursued by the swiftest of the 
British frigates. The " Adams " did not lack speed, 
but she had an even match in her pursuer. During 
all that period she trailed on just beyond gimshot, 
the " Adams " rushing at top speed through the heav- 
ing waves, the Briton following with equal speed, 
while Captain Morris paced his deck day and night 
without rest, and doubtless his pursuer did the same. 
For full four hundred miles this close chase continued, 
with neither side gaining or losing. Then, as night 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 193 

fell again, a squall came on that hid the " Adams " 
from sight. At once Morris up helm and headed 
away on another tack, and when day dawned his pur- 
suer was no longer to be seen. 

Thus four times he had the ill-fortune to meet with 
a force he dared not attack, and each time he carried 
his ship away in safety. But the " Adams " was near- 
ing the end of her career, though not as a prize to the 
enemy. Scurvy broke out among the crew, and she 
was headed across for Portland, Maine. Once again 
the ship ran aground and once again floated off with- 
out harm. While in a fog on the Maine coast she 
struck on a ledge of rock that lifted her bow six feet 
out of the water. Fortunately the next tide floated 
her, and she kept on her course. 

Yet she was too badly strained to continue afloat. 
While chasing a British brig, the " Rifleman," the 
press of canvas set her leaking at the dangerous rate 
of nine feet of water per hour, and to save his ship 
from sinking Captain Morris was forced to run her 
into the Penobscot, ascending that river twenty-seven 
miles to Hampden, where he proposed to heave down 
the ship and repair her leaky bottom. 

He did not get the opportunity. A powerful British 
fleet lay off the coast, consisting of two line-of-battle 
ships, three frigates, three sloops and ten troop trans- 
ports, its purpose being to attack Machias. The 
" Rifleman " met this fleet and informed its admiral of 
the presence of an American corvette in the Penob- 
scot, and measures were at once taken for its capture. 

The approach of the British ships was soon made 

known, and Morris prepared to meet the attack by 

taking nine of his lighter ginis ashore and planting 

them on the bluff overlooking the wharf. These he 

13 



194 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

put under Lieutenant Wadsworth, taking charge of the 
wharf himself. Thirty or forty artillerymen joined 
him, and a force of several hundred militia came to 
his aid — half-armed and utterly worthless. 

The attack came on September 3d. The total force 
sent into the assault, in barges and boats, numbered 
fifteen hundred men, including six hundred troops. 
Against such a body of experienced men defence was 
hopeless with the force under Captain Morris's com- 
mand. With his crew on the wharf he checked the 
flotilla, and the militia fled, without firing a gun, on 
the approach of the land force, leaving him to face a 
body of trained soldiers and marines eight times his 
strength. Under the circumstances there was but one 
thing to do. He set fire to the ship and marched away 
without losing a man except those too sick with scurvy 
to move. Spiking their guns, the crew divided into 
small parties and made their way through the woods 
to Portland. The work of the "Adams," under its 
able commander, had been in making a number of suc- 
cessful escapes from superior force and in finally being 
saved from capture by going up in flames. 

The subsequent career of Captain Morris must be 
briefly told. Made a commodore, he commanded the 
Gulf squadron in 1816-17 and the squadron on the 
coast of Buenos Ayres 1819-20, and in 1825 com- 
manded the " Brandywine " when it conveyed Lafay- 
ette back to France. He served also as naval commis- 
sioner, as inspector of the navy yards of England and 
France, as supervisor of the Naval Academy at Annap- 
olis, and as chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and 
Hydrography at Washington, dying in the latter city 
January 2y^ 1856. 



DAVID PORTER AND THE NOBLE DE- 
FENCE OF THE "ESSEX" 

Of the many great fighters in the American navy 
there were few that equalled, there were none that 
surpassed, David Porter in daring and intrepidity. 
From first to last his history is one of acts of impetu- 
ous courage, and his name stands very high in the 
annals of our navy. Born at Boston on the ist of 
February, 1780, he came from sea-loving stock, his 
grandfather and father both making the waters their 
home, and the latter, David Porter, Sr., taking part 
in the naval work of the Revolution and being held 
captive for a time in the infamous " Jersey " prison 
ship. 

The younger David went to sea with his father in 
a trading vessel at the age of sixteen, and took part 
in the defence of the crew against a British press- 
gang, which was fought off after several men had 
been killed and wounded on each side. In his second 
voyage the ship was boarded and the crew impressed 
by a British frigate. True Americans, young Porter 
and most of his comrades refused to do duty for their 
kidnappers, and in consequence were put in irons. 
Brought to the mast to be whipped to obedience, the 
youthful patriot broke away from his guards, leaped 
overboard, and swam to a Danish ship lying in the har- 
bor. Here he was not molested and sailed in the 
friendly ship to Europe, but on his voyage home he 
was again impressed on a British man-of-war. 

Here he was brutally treated, perhaps on account 

195 



196 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

of his indignant and independent attitude, but he once 
more succeeded in escaping and made his way back 
to the United States, where he entered the navy as a 
midshipman in 1798. Assigned to the frigate " Con- 
stellation," he was on that ship in its active cruise 
against the French in the West Indies and took part in 
its two victorious engagements. 

After the capture of the " Insurgent," February 9, 
1799, Lieutenant John Rodgers and Midshipman Por- 
ter, with eleven men, were sent on board to take charge 
of the prize and superintend the transfer of the crew. 
In the midst of this work and while 173 of the French- 
men were still on board, a hurricane descended on the 
two ships and blew them apart. Critical was the situa- 
tion of the unlucky thirteen, with a West India gale and 
more than twelve times their number of enemies to face, 
yet they did it heroically and successfully. The two 
young officers had the pluck for the occasion. Driving 
their prisoners below and placing an armed man at 
each hatchway with orders to shoot any one who at- 
tempted to come up, they worked the ship with the 
others, without sleep or rest, for three days and two 
nights, and brought her safely to the harbor of St. 
Kitts, where they found the " Constellation " awaiting 
them, her captain hopeless of seeing them again. Men 
capable of a feat like this were born with the qualities 
necessary to success in naval warfare. 

Promoted lieutenant in 1799, Porter was assigned to 
the schooner " Experiment," which was attacked by ten 
picaroon barges while convoying some merchantmen. 
The pirates were driven off and the fleet was saved, but 
Porter received a wound in the fight. Subsequently, 
under Captain Charles Stewart, who was now assigned 
to the " Experiment," he saw some sharp service, and 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 197 

showed his daring spirit in brisk affairs with several 
French privateers, attacking one of these in a pilot 
boat with fifteen men, and taking it without the loss 
of a man, though the privateer lost heavily. 

As may be seen, young David Porter was an officer 
of extraordinary intrepidity, and amply capable of 
holding his own under extraordinary circumstances. 
When Captain Dale's " squadron of observation " was 
sent to the Mediterranean in 1801, Porter went with it 
as lieutenant of the " Enterprise," and took part in the 
fight with the war polacre " Tripoli," which we have 
already described. Twice Porter set out in a boat to 
take charge of the prize after its flag was lowered, and 
twice the Moors opened fire again. Only on the threat 
of Lieutenant Sterrett to sink the treacherous craft did 
the flag come down for good. 

In April, 1802, Porter, in association with Midship- 
man Lawrence, had an adventure on his own account. 
A fleet of eleven coasters laden with wheat, which was 
badly needed in Tripoli, had slipped through the block- 
ade and into the harbor, much to the delight of the 
Tripolitans, whose food supply was running short. 
They drew the coasters on shore and made a breast- 
work of the bags of wheat, but they were attacked by 
Porter, who led an assaulting party in small boats into 
the harbor. He had superior forces, well defended, to 
fight against, but the Moors lost heavily and he suc- 
ceeded in setting fire to the vessels before retiring to his 
boats. It is said that the Moors on this occasion de- 
fended themselves by throwing handfuls of sand in 
the faces of their assailants, hoping thus to blind and 
disable them. It was a bold affair, though of little util- 
ity, for the Tripolitans managed to extinguish the fire 
before much damage was done. 



198 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Transferred later as lieutenant to the " Philadel- 
phia," Porter shared in the fate of the crew of that un- 
fortunate vessel and lay for nineteen months a cap- 
tive in the Bashaw's castle while his fellows on the sea 
were straining every nerve to bring about their release. 
After the work of the expedition had ended, Porter 
returned home, where, on April 22, 1806, he was pro- 
moted master commandant. As such he was put in 
charge of the naval forces at New Orleans and cap- 
tured three French privateers that had entered the Mis- 
sissippi. In 181 1 he was given the command of the 
frigate' " Essex." with whose striking career he was to 
be identified in the coming war. 

The " Essex " had originally carried twenty-six long 
twelve-pounders and sixteen twenty-four-pounder car- 
ronades. but in spite of vigorous protests of Captain 
Porter this armament was changed, twenty of his long 
twelves being taken away and replaced by sixteen 
thirty-two-pounder carronades. She threw much more 
metal than before, but could not throw it nearly so far. 
She was capable of doing good work if within the nar- 
row range of the short carronades. but could be shot to 
pieces without return by a ship with long-range guns. 
This change, made by the super-wise Navy Depart- 
ment, was to prove disastrous to the " Essex " in the 
end. If Porter had possessed his full battery of twelve- 
pounders on a certain famous occasion, he might have 
made history in a different shape. 

Porter's first cruise began in July. 181 2, shortly after 
the declaration of war had been made. He was after 
the British frigate " Thetis," which was known to be 
on its way with specie to South America. Failing to 
find his hoped-for prize, he captured a few merchant 
vessels, and o« the night of July 10 found himself in 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 199 

the vicinity of a convoy of seven merchantmen. It was 
a moonht night, but the sky was well overcast with 
clouds, so he adopted the ruse of posing the " Essex " 
as a merchant ship. Her height was concealed by a 
partial dropping of her top-gallant masts, the guns 
were run in and the ports closed, and the running rig- 
ging left slack, in true merchant style. 

In this guise the " Essex " made her way unsus- 
pected into the fleet. Porter talking with some of the 
captains and learning that they were carrying a thou- 
sand soldiers from Barbadoes to Quebec, and were 
guarded by the thirty-two-gun frigate " Minerva." Af- 
ter this had gone on for some time one of the captains 
suspected something wrong and began to signal the 
" Minerva." At once Porter threw open his ports and 
compelled the captain to follow him out of the fleet. 
This was done without alarming the other vessels, and 
when boarded the prize was found to have nearly two 
hundred soldiers on board. 

It was now three o'clock in the morning. Daylight 
came before another prize could be made. Porter set 
up his masts again and took in the slack of his rig- 
ging, and, an evident man-of-war, sailed towards the 
convoy. When within gunshot distance he hove to and 
awaited the " Minerva." The latter did not accept the 
challenge, her captain taking her into the midst of the 
fleet, where he could have the support of the troops on 
the transports with musketry and such cannon as these 
carried. We owe to David G. Farragut, who was a mid- 
shipman on the " Essex," an account of this affair. He 
says that " the captured British officers were very anx- 
ious for us to have a fight with the ' Minerva,' as they 
considered her a good match for the ' Essex,' and 
Captain Porter replied that he would gratify them with 



200 HEROES OF THE NAVY . 

pleasure if his Majesty's commander was of his taste." 
Their indignation was extreme when they saw what 
they called the base cowardice of this commander. 

On August 13 the " Essex " had another encounter, 
a ship being sighted to windward that looked like a 
man-of-war. Porter tried the same ruse which had 
been successful before, putting- out drags over the stern 
to diminish his speed and handling his sails in the man- 
ner of a merchant ship. The trick fully deceived the 
stranger, which came bowling down towards the " Es- 
sex," above which was shown the British flag. As she 
came near and fired a gun the " Essex " hove to until 
she had passed under her stern to leeward. 

Then there was a sudden change. The " Essex " 
by this trick had won the weather gauge, and now filled 
away her mainsails, cut loose the drags, replaced the 
British colors with the American, and threw open her 
ports, running out her guns. This rapid revolution in 
appearance was hailed wnth three cheers by the British 
crew, who. in their usual hasty fashion, blazed away 
without waiting till their gims bore on the enemy. 

The men of the '* Essex " had been taught a better 
use of their gims. The fire was not returned until all 
her guns bore, when she gave the stranger a broad- 
side whose eflfect was absolutely stunning. The fight 
was completely taken out of the crew of the enemy, 
all of whom and all the officers but three were severely 
reprimanded for cowardice at the subsequent court- 
martial of the captain. In a panic, they tried to veer oflF 
and run away, but a few minutes brought the " Essex " 
again alongside ; whereupon the stranger fired a musket 
and lowered her flag. She proved to be the corvette 
" Alert," a ship much inferior in force to the " Es- 
sex," but capable of making a far better fight than she 



HEROES OF TEIE NAVY 201 

had done. Not one of her men was killed and only 
three were wounded, but she was shot so full of holes 
that when the Americans reached her deck there were 
seven feet of water in her hold. 

She was repaired and saved, however, and the two 
ships sailed away together, the " Essex " continuing 
her cruise. Yet she was not in the safest condition, 
being crowded with prisoners much exceeding her 
own crew. These included the soldiers from the trans- 
port and the men from the " Alert," while she had sent 
out two prize crews. The prisoners were well aware 
of this and concocted a plan to capture the ship, the 
coxswain of the " Alert's " gig being the leader. The 
discovery of the plot was due to young David Farra- 
gut. While lying in his hammock he saw the coxswain 
with a pistol in his hand, looking around to see if all 
was in order for the movement. Coming to where Far- 
ragut lay, he looked at him earnestly, but the boy 
feigned sleep and the man passed on. 

As soon as he was out of hearing the alert midship- 
man sprang up and ran to the cabin, where he told the 
captain of his suspicions. Porter was the man for an 
emergency. Leaping from his berth and running from 
the cabin, he began to shout in stentorian tones : " Fire ! 
fire!" 

This alarming cry threw the mutineers into hopeless 
dismay. To the crew it meant only the fire-drill to 
which they had been carefully trained. Porter had 
even gone so far in this training as to build fires that 
sent up volumes of smoke through the hatches, thus 
teaching them to deal with what seemed a real fire. As 
a result, they were quickly at their quarters, cool and 
steady. Turning them on the mutineers, the conspiracy 
was immediately quelled. The prisoners were after- 



202 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

wards sent to St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 
" Alert " as a cartel. 

The men of the " Essex " were to have one more ad- 
venture before their cruise ended, their ship being 
chased by the " Shannon " and another frigate when off 
St. George's bank. A third ship was seen in company 
with the two, and Captain Porter thought that he had 
excellent warrant to have business elsewhere. Yet run- 
ning away was not to his fancy, and he devised a plan 
that might give him one of his pursuers. 

His men had been as carefully trained for effectively 
boarding an enemy as to deal with fire, and their 
weapons were kept in the best condition. Porter's 
scheme was, when night fell, to tack ship, run along- 
side his selected prey, and board her while under full 
sail. He estimated her speed at about eight knots an 
hour, and that his ship would foul her on the cross 
course at four knots, and a kedge anchor was prepared, 
hanging by a cable from the end of the mainyard, so 
that it could be dropped on the enemy as the two ships 
crashed together. Excellent as the plot seemed, it 
failed to work. At the proper time the " Essex " 
tacked, but the enemy was not where he had hoped to 
meet her, and was not found. Sixty days the cruise 
lasted, and then Porter returned, having captured nine 
prizes and more than five hundred prisoners and re- 
taken five American vessels from prize crews. The 
capture of the " Alert " took place just six days before 
that of the " Guerriere," and was thus the first capture 
of a British naval vessel in that war. 

Such is the story of the first cruise of the " Essex." 
The second and more notable one began on October 28, 
1812. As has already been said, the " Essex " was 
expected to meet the " Constitution " and the " Hor- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 203 

net," and proceed with them to the East Indies, but she 
failed to do so. Capturing on her voyage a brig 
containing $55,000 in cash, and receiving a letter from 
Commodore Bainbridge at Fernando de Noronha, Por- 
ter proceeded to Cape Frio as directed, there to learn 
of the fight of the " Constitution " with the " Java," her 
return homeward and the sailing north of the " Hor- 
net." This departure of his consorts left Porter free 
to act, and he determined to round the Horn and cruise 
in search of the British shipping in the South Pacific. 

It was a new field of naval effort, and proved to be 
a rich one. Setting out from the Brazilian coast on 
January 26, 181 3, Captain Porter made his way south- 
ward and westward through a series of misadventures. 
First a severe form of dysentery broke out that threat- 
ened to attack the whole crew. Porter knew nothing 
of medical science, and in those days nothing was 
known of the modern method of dealing with conta- 
gious diseases, but he brought his common sense to 
bear, adopted sanitary measures of a rigid character, 
and cleaned the ship and the crew so thoroughly that 
the epidemic quickly disappeared. 

Trouble of a different character came in rounding 
the Horn. They ran into terrible weather, in which 
the high seas so tossed and battered the little frigate 
that its gun-deck ports were broken in, its extra spars 
were swept overboard and some of its boats crushed 
by the torrent waves. So terrified did the boatswain 
become in one of these assaults that he screamed out : 

" We are sinking ! The ship's side is stove in ! " and 
a panic broke out among the crew that it needed all the 
captain's resolute will to overcome. 

But Mocha Island was reached in March, and the 
crew had rest and recreation, the island being overnm 



204 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

with half-wild hogs and horses from which they ob- 
tained a good supply of salted meats. Reaching Val- 
paraiso, it was learned that Chile had declared its inde- 
pendence of Spain. Then began the work of making 
prizes, the first ship taken being the Peruvian cruiser 
" Nereyda," which had been capturing American whal- 
ers. Porter threw overboard all its guns and arms, and 
then let it go, with a letter of warning to the Spanish 
viceroy of Peru. 

His work of capture among the British whalers soon 
began, his ship being first altered in appearance so as 
to make her look like a Spanish merchant vessel. In a 
short time the " Barclay," " Montezuma." " Georgi- 
ana," and " Policy " were overhauled. Then on May 
28 the "Atlantic " and " Greenwich " were added to the 
list of prizes. Several of these ships had rich cargoes, 
and their supplies of spare spars, cordage, and canvas 
enabled Porter to refit his battered ship. In June, while 
the " Essex " lay in Guayaquil Bay, the " Georgiana," a 
sixteen-gun ship, with forty men, was sent out on a 
cruise under Lieutenant Downes. He was successful 
in capturing the " Catharine." the *' Rose." and the 
" Hector," the latter after a sharp fight. When 
Downes came in he had only ten men to work his ship, 
all the others having been sent out as prize crews. At 
Guayaquil the large and swift "Atlantic " was con- 
verted into an American cruiser, under the new name 
of " Essex Junior." and sent to convoy a part of the 
fleet of prizes to Valparaiso. During the succeeding 
months four other prizes were taken, and in October 
Porter bore away for the Marquesas Islands, where 
he could give his ship the overhauling it sadly needed. 

Meanwhile news of the havoc the " Essex " was 
making among British shipping in the Pacific had 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 205 

reached England, and several frigates were sent out, 
with orders to capture it at all hazards. Thus Porter, 
on leaving the Marquesas, where he had to suppress a 
plot among his prisoners and an incipient mutiny of 
his own men, captivated by the delights of that tropical 
island, had perils to face such as he had not met in his 
former successful cruise. The " Georgiana " and the 
" New Zealand " were sent home, both laden with full 
cargoes of oil, and both to be captured by British 
blockaders within sight of port. Some were sent off 
as cartels with captives, others were left for the time 
at the Marquesas, and in December, 18 13, the " Essex " 
and " Essex Junior " set sail on their final cruise, one 
that was to end in disaster and captivity. 

Valparaiso was reached on February 3, 1814. Here 
Porter was told of a British frigate, the " Phoebe," that 
had for some time been seeking him along the coast. 
On the night of the 7th a grand reception was given 
to the dignitaries of the city, and while it was in full 
blast news came from the " Essex Junior," which had 
been stationed outside on guard duty, that two sails 
were in sight and that they showed British colors. 
They proved to be the " Phoebe " and a smaller war- 
ship, the " Cherub." One unlucky fact under the cir- 
cumstances was that half the crew of the " Essex " 
were then on shore, having a good time, and doubtless 
imbibing freely the heady native wine of the country. 

The mate of an English merchant ship in the harbor 
jumped into a small boat and rowed out to tell his com- 
ing countrymen of the state of affairs, and Captain 
Hillyar, of the " Phoebe," hastened to take advantage 
of the opportunity. Valparaiso was a neutral port, but 
that troubled him little, as he did not look for any 
active interference. He had been sent out to capture 



2o6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the " Essex " and did not propose to let any small 
matter like this stand in his way. 

Leaving the " Cherub " outside, Hillyar steered 
straight for the " Essex," and kept on until he had 
ranged up within fifteen feet of her side. He did so 
to find, to his discomfiture, that due preparation for his 
coming had been made, and that Porter had his men at 
their guns, ready and eager to fight. This sight cooled 
his ardor, and instead of opening fire, he conveniently 
remembered that he had met Porter before in the 
Mediterranean, and called out with studied politeness : 

" Captain Hillyar's compliments to Captain Porter, 
and hopes he is well." 

" Very well, I thank you," said Porter, somewhat 
grimly ; " but I hope you will not come too near for 
fear some accident might take place which would be 
disagreeable to you." 

That accidents were impending was evident enough, 
for the decks of the " Essex " were crowded with men 
ready to board. Hillyar at once braced his yards 
back, and called out in an agitated tone that he had 
no intention of coming so near and was sorry he had 
done so. Porter's answer was pointed enough : 

" Well, you have no business where you are. If you 
touch a rope-yarn of this ship I shall board instantly ! " 

The next moment the " Phoebe " was slipping away. 
Even then a fight was imminent, for a drunken fellow 
below was on the point of firing his gun when he was 
knocked down by the lieutenant in charge. So near 
the two ships came to a fight that would doubtless have 
ended in the capture of the " Phoebe," for the " Essex 
Junior " was near by to aid. Captain Porter had re- 
spected the neutrality of the port under very aggravat- 
ing circumstances. As for Captain Hillyar, he had 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 207 

been ordered to " capture the ' Essex ' with the least 
possible risk to his vessel and crew," and this order he 
proposed to obey strictly. 

A few days later Porter challenged Hillyar to meet 
the " Essex " with the "' Phoebe " alone and fight it out 
for the honor of their flags. Hillyar agreed and both 
sides prepared for a fight. But when the " Essex " 
came out of the harbor and some shots were ex- 
changed, the" Phoebe "squared away for the" Cherub," 
which had been sent to leeward to be out of the fight. 
Evidently Hillyar did not intend to take any chances. 

Porter in this brief movement had found that he 
had the fastest ship of the two, and as he had learned 
that a squadron of British war vessels was expected 
soon at Valparaiso, he decided to make sail for the open 
sea, so as not to be caught in a trap. And then the 
misfortunes of the " Essex " began. While clearing 
the southwest point of the harbor before a heavy wind 
a sudden and violent squall struck her with such force 
as to carry away the maintopmast, with the men who 
were aloft furling the top-gallant sail. Seeing the awk- 
ward dilemma of the Americans, the two British ships 
instantly gave chase, and Porter turned to seek his old 
anchorage. But again the wind proved unfriendly, 
shifting so that, with his crippled ship, he could not 
make it. Pie was forced to run into a small bay and 
drop anchor near shore. 

Porter was now at a frightful disadvantage. The 
robbing of the " Essex " of its long-range guns had 
crippled it fatally for such a situation. He had only six 
long twelve-pounders against more than thirty long- 
range guns on the two hostile ships, and they had only 
to stand off and batter the " Essex " without possibility 
of a return. This they did, yet even as the case stood 



2o8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Porter managed to make himself felt so shrewdly that 
at the end of a half-hour his antagonists had to haul off 
to repair damages. The " Phoebe " had seven holes at 
her water-line, and her rigging was badly cut up. But 
the " Essex " had suffered very severely and when the 
enemy opened fire again Porter found it impossible to 
bring his few effective guns to bear. 

The wind having shifted, he now ordered his crew 
to slip the cable and make sail, but he found that the 
running gear had been so cut up that only the flying jib 
could be spread. Under this little bit of canvas, and 
with his square sails flapping loosely in the wind, he 
put out until able to reach the enemy with his short 
guns, only to find that they hastily made sail to get 
beyond his range. Baffled, he was not yet conquered. 
He turned his ship again towards the shore, deter- 
mined to beach her, fight to the last shot, and then 
blow her to pieces rather than to give her up. 

Once more the elements proved treacherous. The 
wind again shifted, caught the sails aback, and the 
" Essex " was left drifting off shore, a helpless tar- 
get for the giins of the enemy. An explosion below 
sent the men rushing to the deck, many of them 
with their clothing ablaze. Fearing that the fire had 
reached the magazine, numbers of the crew, and even 
some of the officers, jumped overboard and swam for 
shore. Of the two hundred and fifty men of the crew 
only seventy-five were left fit for duty, and the balls 
of the enemy were still pouring relentlessly in, with- 
out the possibility of a return. All hope was at an 
end and, at 6.20 p.m., after a resistance worthy of Pavil 
Jones, " the painful order was given to haul down the 
colors." Thus, after one of the most heroic fights in 
history, was taken the only American frigate, with 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 209 

the exception of the " Chesapeake " and the " Presi- 
dent," captured in that war. 

We may briefly close this long narrative. The final 
fate of the " Essex " was to be sent to England, where 
she was added to the British navy. The " Essex 
Junior " was disarmed and sent as a cartel to New 
York, carrying the American prisoners. Ofif New 
York she was detained by British cruisers so long, on 
the plea that Hillyar had no right to issue a safe con- 
duct, that Porter and a boat's crew left her and rowed 
ashore in a fog. The " Essex Junior," released, soon 
came in also. 

Porter's career embraced only one more scene of 
war. After serving as commissioner of the navy 
from 181 5 to 1823 he was sent to the West Indies 
to operate against the pirates in that quarter. He 
had considerable success in breaking up their haunts, 
but in 1824 certain indignities against American inter- 
ests and insult to an American lieutenant by the Span- 
ish authorities of Foxardo, a Porto Rican port, led 
Porter to interfere and force an apology from the 
Foxardo authorities. His action on this occasion did 
not meet with approval at home. He was suspended 
for six months by a court-martial, and he indignantly 
resigned his commission. 

The whole business was an unfortunate one, and the 
scurvy treatment of the hero of the " Essex " was 
far from warranted by the circumstances. Porter 
carri^ed his indignation so far as to enter the Mexi- 
can service, being made commander-in-chief of the 
navy of the Republic. Returning to the United States 
in 1829 he was appointed consul general at Algiers, 
and in 1831 was made United States Minister at Con- 
stantinople. He died in that city March 28, 1843. 
14 



OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, THE HERO OF 
LAKE ERIE 

Oliver Hazard Perry, who in one battle won well- 
nigh the highest fame in American naval history, 
was born in Newport, Rhode Island, August 21, 1785. 
His father was a captain in the navy during the Revo- 
lution and the naval war with France, and the son 
began his service in the United States navy April 7th, 
1797, as a midshipman under his father's command in 
the West Indies. Transferred to the " Adams " in 
1802, he took part in the war with Tripoli in com- 
pany with many others who were later to become fa- 
mous. He continued in the Mediterranean in 1804-05 
as a midshipman on the " Constellation," was pro- 
moted lieutenant in 1805 and given command of the 
little " Nautilus," and during the years of the em- 
bargo against foreign commerce (1807-09) commanded 
a fleet of gunboats off Newport harbor. Transferred 
to the " Revenge " in 1809, his vessel was wrecked in 
the following year. 

As yet Perry had played a minor part in our naval 
history, but his time was at hand. Promoted captain 
after the opening of the war with Great Britain, he 
was ordered back to Newport to take charge of the 
gunboat flotilla, and was kept at this small duty, de- 
spite his appeals for a more active service, while some 
of his former comrades were winning laurels on the 
high seas. 

At length a new field of service opened. The naval 
war was not confined to the ocean waters, but there 
210 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 211 

had been some active operations on the great lakes be- 
tween Commodore Chauncey on Lake Ontario and 
Lieutenant ElHott at the foot of Lake Erie, and the 
British of Canada. Conditions in this region were 
growing more critical, there seemed danger of the 
British getting full possession of the northwest, and 
on the 17th of February, 18 13, an order reached Cap- 
tain Perry to join Chauncey with " all the best men 
of his flotilla." 

This was an order to Perry's heart. Rusting in 
inaction at Newport, he was eager for service, and 
before nightfall had sent fifty picked men westward in 
sleds over the winter snows. One hundred more were 
despatched on the following days, and on the 22d he 
set out himself with his brother, an ardent boy of thir- 
teen. The sleighing was good, but the way was long 
and difficult, most of it being through an unbroken 
wilderness, and it was March 3d before Sackett's 
Harbor was reached. Thence, after a two weeks' 
wait with Chauncey for a threatened British attack, he 
proceeded to Presque Isle, the site of the present city 
of Erie, and the base of operations projected by the 
Navy Department. 

Erie was well selected in view of the intention to 
fight for the control of Lake Erie, as it had an easily 
protected harbor and could receive supplies from Pitts- 
burg nearly all the way by water. Reaching this local- 
ity, now not as a subordinate to Chauncey, but with a 
distinct mission of his own. Perry found building oper- 
ations well under way, the keels of two twenty-gun 
brigs having been laid and three gunboats partly built. 
But there was reason to believe that the British medi- 
tated an attack on this ill-defended post, and arms 
and ammunition were wanting. Perry soon had things 



212 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

moving in a lively way, sending Captain Dobbins, 
the shipwright, to Buffalo for means of defence and 
hasting himself to Pittsburg to forward certain Phila- 
delphia carpenters from that point and to arrange for 
the forwarding of canvas, rigging, and other ship 
supplies. 

On his return, learning that Commodore Chauncey, 
who had been operating with success on Lake Ontario, 
was about to attack Fort George, near the mouth of the 
Niagara, Perry set out in haste for Buffalo in a row- 
boat on the night of May 23, and reached Chauncey's 
camp after a strenuous effort, taking a very active part 
in the fight that followed. The enterprise was com- 
pletely successful and led to the British abandoning 
the whole line of the Niagara River. 

During his absence the two brigs building at Erie 
were launched. They had been hewn out of the forest, 
the lumber of trees that had been waving to the 
breeze in the morning being in some instances fitted 
into a warship before night. The success at Fort 
George, by clearing the Niagara of British troops, had 
opened the way for Perry to get out some vessels that 
were lying at Buffalo, and he hastened to take advan- 
tage of the opportunity. These included the brig 
" Caledonia," which Lieutenant Elliott had captured by 
a brilliant dash some months before, and four smaller 
vessels. They were " tracked " by long lines drawn by 
men and oxen against the swift current of the river for 
six days, and reached Erie in time to escape the enemy, 
who were out in force looking for them. 

The month of June was now well advanced, but 
Perry's unceasing activity brought on an attack of 
bilious remittent fever that threatened to prostrate 
him. Yet he did not give way to it. He knew too 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 213 

well the danger of delay. The British were actively 
preparing for him and had a vessel, the " Detroit," 
larger than any of his, on the stocks at Maiden, on 
the Detroit River. Haste in equipping his fleet was 
indispensable, and, despite his sickness, he gave sev- 
eral hours daily to the work of fitting out his ves- 
sels and training his men in the handling of ships 
and guns. 

Men were especially needed, and he sent an urgent 
appeal for them to Chauncey couched in the following 
terms : " For God's sake, and yours and mine, send me 
men and officers, and I will have them all in a day or 
two." He received some men in return, " a motley set, 
blacks, soldiers, and boys." But by the end of July he 
had gathered about three hundred men, too few for the 
work that lay before him, but putting him in a better 
position. It is well to state here that on August loth 
he was joined by Lieutenant Jesse D. Elliott, who 
had done such good work on the Niagara, with one 
hundred officers and men of first-class kind, some of 
the men having served on the " Constitution " and 
aided in the sinking of the " Guerriere." Later on 
some soldiers were sent him by General Harrison. 

A difficult task lay before Perry after he had finally 
succeeded in converting the forest trees into stanch 
warships. The bar at the mouth of the harbor which 
had protected his vessels while building was too shal- 
low for them to cross. The six feet he had expected 
to find was not enough for the draught of his brigs, 
but on sounding he found that the waters had sunk 
until there were only four feet on the bar. This added 
greatly to the difficulty before him. The smaller ves- 
sels crossed the bar without difficulty, but the two large 
brigs needed to be lifted across in the face of the 



214 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

watchful enemy. These vessels had been named the 
" Niagara " and the " Lawrence," the latter in memory 
of Captain Lawrence, whose heroic death on the 
" Chesapeake " had recently taken place. 

The method of carrying these vessels across the bar 
was ingenious. Two large scows, built for the pur- 
pose, were filled with water till their decks were awash 
and then firmly attached to the sides of the " Law- 
rence " and the water pumped out. The brig, thus 
lifted, was now hauled forward till it came hard 
aground on the bar. The lifting process needed to be 
repeated, and this time the vessel was carried safely 
over. The " Niagara " was then successfully handled 
in the same manner. 

The British had been carefully on guard to prevent 
the passing of the bar, but on the night of August 4th 
Captain Barclay, an experienced seaman who had 
fought under Nelson at Trafalgar, seeing no signs of 
active operation, had left the station to take part in 
a banquet given in his honor at Port Dover, on the 
Canadian side of the lake. Perry took quick advan- 
tage of the opportunity, working diligently all night to 
get his vessels in open water outside the bar. While 
he was thus engaged Barclay was making the follow- 
ing remark to his entertainers: 

" I expect to find the Yankee brigs hard and fast on 
the bar when I return, in which predicament it will be 
but a small job to destroy them." 

He did not make allowance for Yankee ingenuity, 
and lost his opportunity through his fondness for good 
living, arriving before Erie the next morning just as 
the sailors were giving the " Niagara " her final lift 
over the bar. Seeing that he had come too late and 
that the job before him had grown from a small to a 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 215 

large one, he squared away for Maiden, where the 
" Detroit " lay yet uncompleted. Perry soon followed 
up the lake with his fleet and sought harbor at Put-in 
Bay, a lake anchorage sheltered by a chain of islands. 
Near by was the camp of General Harrison's army 
and Perry had an interview with the general on the 
1 8th, with the view of a descent on the British station 
at Maiden. 

There followed a severe return of his fever, and a 
similar sickness prostrated many of his men, the fleet 
doctor himself becoming so ill that he had to be carried 
on a cot to visit the sick. Under these circumstances 
all movements against Maiden had, for the time, to be 
abandoned. On September ist the fleet ran out for a 
look at Maiden, but found the British ships so close 
under the protection of shore batteries that nothing 
could be attempted. Barclay was waiting for the 
completion of the " Detroit." Back to Put-in Bay 
they went. On the 9th a boat attack was decided on, 
but events were near at hand that rendered this un- 
necessary and gave Perry the opportunity he wanted. 

He had now nine vessels under his command — the 
large brigs " Lawrence " and " Niagara," and the small 
brig '* Caledonia," the schooners " Ariel," " Scorpion," 
" Somers," " Porcupine," and " Tigress," and the sloop 
" Trippe." The big brigs were each armed with two 
long twelves and eighteen short thirty-twos, the heavy 
long guns being placed on the smaller vessels, there 
being four long twenty-fours on the " Ariel " and a 
long thirty-two on each of several of the smaller boats. 

The British had six vessels only, the new ship " De- 
troit," somewhat larger than the " Lawrence " ; the 
ship " Queen Charlotte," smaller than the new Ameri- 
can brigs ; the brig " Hunter," the big schooner " Lady 



2i6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Prevost," the small schooner " Chippeway/' and the 
big sloop " Little Belt." These could throw a much 
smaller weight of metal than the American vessels, 
but the guns were more advantageously distributed, 
the long-range heavy guns being on the larger vessels, 
while the smaller craft carried nothing larger than a 
long twelve each. As to men, the British had some- 
what the greater number. 

Such was the comparative strength of the fleets that 
met on the historic loth of September on Lake Erie's 
waves. Early that day Captain Barclay set out for 
Long Point, the British depot for supplies. Provisions 
were running short, and must be had even if a battle 
should need to be fought to get them. Perry's men 
were keen on the lookout for such a move, and at 
daybreak on the loth came from aloft the inspiring 
cry of " Sail ho ! " 

In a moment everybody was astir ; the boatswains' 
whistles called the men to the capstans, and at the 
command of " LTp anchor " the vessels were soon free 
to move. But the wind was unfavorable for leaving 
the harbor, and the crews had to resort to oars in aid 
of their sails. The instructions to the commanding 
officers chiefly consisted in the brief but famous one 
of Nelson : " If you lay your enemy close alongside 
you cannot be out of your place." 

On reaching the open waters the enemy was sighted 
five or six miles away, and the ships were headed 
towards him, though the light and uncertain wind in- 
terfered much with progress. Perry for some time 
sought to gain the windward position, but at length 
gave up the effort and decided to square away under 
the lee of the islands, replying to the sailing master's 
remonstrance that this would bring him to leeward of 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 217 

the enemy : " I don't care, to windward or to leeward ; 
they shall fight to-day." 

But again the wind shifted, this time a favorable 
change to the south, and the Americans, now having 
the weather gauge, were put before it and ran down 
with free sheets upon the enemy. The ships were 
formed in line of battle on the plan decided upon, and 
all hands ordered to clear them for action. In the 
midst of this a roll of bunting was brought up from 
below and handed to Perry. On unfolding it, there 
were seen in great white letters upon a blue field Law- 
rence's dying words : 

" Don't give up the ship ! " 

" My brave lads," said Perry to his men, " this flag 
bears the last words of Captain Lawrence. Shall I 
hoist it?" 

" Aye, aye, sir ! " came in a hearty response, and up 
to the main truck sped the significant flag. 

It was now about ten o'clock. The wind continued 
light, and a broad space still divided the two fleets. 
To hearten the men for the work before them Captain 
Perry now ordered food and the usual allowance of 
grog to be served. The mess kits were then cleared 
away and needful precautions for the coming fight 
taken, such as drenching the decks with water to ren- 
der harmless any loose powder that might be scat- 
tered, and sprinkling a layer of sand so as to give the 
men a good footing, even if the decks were wet with 
blood. 

Barclay meanwhile had hove to his ships and was 
awaiting the Americans, the vessels drawn up in close 
array, in a line square across the wind, the little 
" Chippeway " and the big " Detroit " at the head. 
Against these Perry advanced in the " Lawrence," 



2i8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

his flagship, the Httle " Ariel " and " Scorpion " leading 
the way. With these he headed for the " Detroit," 
leaving the remainder of his fleet to come up as rapidly 
as possible and to deal with the other British craft. 

All being thus disposed, the squadron moved slowly 
onward before the light and baffling wind, Perry pac- 
ing his deck impatiently, stopping at intervals for a 
word to the gun crews, all of whom he found eagerly 
preparing for the fray. At one gun were men from 
the " Constitution," the most of them stripped to the 
waist and with handkerchiefs tied round their heads 
to keep their hair out of their eyes. 

"I need not say anything to you," he remarked; 
" you know how to beat those fellows." 

At another gun stood some of his old gunboat men. 

" Ah, here are the Newport boys ! " he said cheerily ; 
" they will do their duty, I warrant." 

The cheers he got in response showed well the 
spirit of the men. 

The vessels of the squadron rather drifted than 
sailed towards the enemy, and as noon approached the 
nearest vessels were still a mile apart, while the rear 
of the American fleet lay far behind. Far separated as 
the flagships now were, almost beyond the range of 
the best guns of that day, the impatience of the Brit- 
ish gunners had grown beyond restraint and a gun 
roared from the " Detroit," its ball plunging into the 
water before reaching its goal. In a minute or two 
more a second ball, with better aim, came crashing 
through the bulwarks of the " Lawrence." The battle 
was on. 

Barclay, who had seventeen long guns in the " De- 
troit " against two in the " Lawrence," was naturally 
anxious to fight at long range ; but Perry kept on 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 219 

without replying, holding his course in silence for ten 
minutes more, the first shot on the American side com- 
ing from the little " Scorpion " at the head of the 
line. It wanted five minutes to noon when this pioneer 
American gun spoke out. The " Caledonia " and the 
" Niagara " fired also, though the latter was at very 
long range. Soon the " Lawrence " and the " Detroit " 
were hotly at work, the roar of cannon grew incessant 
and rising smoke filled the air, in a measure cutting 
ofif the vessels from the sight of the soldier and civil- 
ian spectators, who had gathered in numbers on the 
neighboring shores of the lake. 

As the " Lawrence " drew nearer the great disadvan- 
tage of her position became apparent. The close 
grouping of the British ships brought her within as 
easy range of the " Hunter " and the " Queen Char- 
lotte " as she was of the " Detroit," while the more 
distant " Lady Prevost " was able to reach her with 
the three long guns of her battery. Thus she was 
forced almost alone to bear the fire of nearly the 
whole British squadron. At noon the " Lawrence " 
was still too distant for her short guns to reach the 
" Detroit," and Perry passed the word by trumpet 
down the line for all the vessels to close in as fast 
as possible — an order obeyed, as well as the faint wind 
would permit, by every officer except Elliott on the 
" Niagara," which, for some unaccountable reason, 
held back. 

In a short time more the " Lawrence " was in a most 
perilous position, the " Detroit," " Hunter," and 
" Queen Charlotte " having her under their guns, the 
" Hunter " being so situated as to rake her fore and aft, 
while she had only the little " Scorpion " and " Ariel " 
for support. There were only seven long guns on 



220 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the three vessels to thirty-two on the British ships, 
yet in spite of these odds Perry drove the " Lawrence " 
steadily onward until within easy musket range of 
the " Detroit," working his guns for all they were 
worth, though frightfully overmatched by the force 
bearing upon him. 

Terrible soon became the scene now upon the decks 
of the seemingly doomed ship. Balls crashed through 
the bulwarks, carrying death to many and trans- 
fixing others with the splinters they hurled to right 
and left. Blood flowed like water under the men's 
feet. On the lower deck matters were still worse, the 
ship being of such slight draft that the wounded could 
not be carried to a place of safety, numbers of them 
being killed as they awaited the surgeon's aid. The 
roar was incessant, the smoke blinding, and a very 
pandemonium of horror reigned. 

Through all this frightful turmoil Perry stood on 
his quarter-deck, cheering on his men, his little brother 
beside him, with no evidence of fear on his face. As 
they stood two musket balls passed through the boy's 
hat; then a splinter was driven through his clothing; 
finally he was knocked headlong across the deck, and 
Perry's face paled at the sight. But it proved to be 
only a flying hammock that had struck him, and in a 
minute he was on his feet again. 

" All the officers in my division are cut down." asked 
Lieutenant Yarnall, his face covered with blood from 
a splinter that had been driven through his nose ; 
" can I have others ? " 

Others were given him, and he went forward again. 
In a short time he was back with a similar request. 

" I have no more officers to give you," said Perry ; 
" yoti must make out by yourself." 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 221 

He did make out, aiming and firing the gmis with his 
own hands — a duty which Perry himself was later 
forced to perform, like Paul Jones of old. He kept 
at this until he had not enough men on the quarter- 
deck to aim and fire the one gun left in service. 
Going to the hatchway, he asked for a man from the 
surgeon. One was sent, and two others in succession, 
but still Perry was obliged to repeat the demand. 

" There is not another man left to go," said the sur- 
geon. 

" Then are there none of the wounded who can pull 
on a rope ? " 

At this appeal three men crawled up the hatchway 
ladder to help with the gun-tackles. These, with aid 
from the purser and chaplain, rolled the gun out, while 
Perry aimed and fired it. 

This was the last gun fired from the " Lawrence." 
The next broadside from the enemy left not a single 
gun that could be worked. The vessel itself was a 
wreck. Her bowsprit and masts had been in great 
part shot away, while her hull was riddled. Only four- 
teen men remained unhurt in her crew of more than a 
hundred. Twenty had been killed. But the American 
flag and the blue banner, with its motto, " Don't give 
up the ship ! " floated still, and Perry remained inspired 
by its spirit. For two hours he had kept up a fight 
seemingly hopeless from the start, and he was still far 
from the thought of surrender. 

During these two fateful hours the " Niagara " had 
kept out of the battle, but now, with a fresher breeze 
in her sails, she was coming briskly up, headed for 
the right of the British line. Her route would take 
her a quarter of a mile or more from the " Lawrence." 
The sight of this unharmed vessel aroused a new hope 



222 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

in the mind of the gallant commander. On her deck 
he might be able to retrieve the fortunes of the day. 
Action quickly followed thought. Throwing off the 
blue jacket he had so far worn, he put on his uniform 
coat and ordered a boat with four men to be lowered 
on the side of the " Lawrence " out of the fiery storm. 
His boy brother sprang into the boat with the men. 

" Yarnall," he said to his faithful lieutenant, " I 
leave the ' Lawrence ' in your charge, with discre- 
tionary power. You may hold out or surrender, as 
your judgment and the circumstances shall dictate." 

Then, taking his pennant and the broad banner, 
with the Lawrence motto, which had been hauled down 
and given him, he climbed down into the boat and 
ordered his men to pull away for the " Niagara." 
As soon as the boat was seen from the British fleet 
and the purpose of the American commander guessed 
every gun that could be brought to bear was turned 
upon it, the water all around being churned by round- 
shot, grape, canister, and musket balls. Through this 
torrent of shot Perry stood erect in the stern of his 
boat, intent on inspiring his men with courage, the 
flag and pennant draped round his shoulders. As they 
neared their goal a round-shot plunged through the 
side of the boat. Perry took off his coat and plugged 
the hole with it, and thus the side of the " Niagara " 
was reached. 

The crisis of the battle was now reached. Step- 
ping on the deck of this fresh ship, amid the loud 
cheers of the crew. Perry saw at a glance that a splen- 
did opportunity to turn defeat into victory was in his 
hands. 

" How goes the day ? " asked Elliott. Distance had 
prevented him seeing for himself. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 223 

" Bad enough," replied Perry. " Why are the gun- 
boats so far astern ? " 

" I'll bring them up." 

"Do so." 

Springing into the boat that had brought Perry up, 
Elliott rowed away. As he did so Perry's pennant and 
the blue flag of the '* Lawrence " were hauled aloft, 
bringing ringing cheers from every American ship 
except the " Lawrence " herself, on which Yarnall, not 
having a gun that could be fired, hauled down his flag 
to prevent the useless butchery of his crew. 

On all other vessels hope had replaced doubt and 
dismay. Putting up his helm, Perry drove his new 
flagship square for the British squadron, which was 
now so bunched that in a few minutes he was in its 
midst, firing from one battery into the " Chippewa " 
and " Lady Prevost," from the other into the " De- 
troit," " Hunter " and " Queen Charlotte." The effect 
of the close fire on them was disastrous. Already 
severely injured by the guns of the " Lawrence," this 
hot fire from a fresh ship was annihilating. The 
" Detroit " and the " Queen Charlotte " tried to swing 
around and meet him, but fouled each other, while 
Perry, ranging ahead, rounded to and raked them 
both. 

The other American vessels were joining in as they 
came within range, and Barclay stood aghast at the 
slaughter and destruction hurled on his hitherto seem- 
ingly victorious ships. The crew of the " Lady Pre- 
vost " fled from the deck, leaving their commander, 
Lieutenant Buchan, alone on the quarter-deck with 
bleeding limbs and staring eyes. The tempest of shot 
and the torrent of destruction were more than even 
British valor could stand, and eight minutes after 



224 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Perry's signal dash into their hnc a man came to the 
rail of the British flagship, waving a white hand- 
kerchief tied to a boarding pike. It was the signal of 
surrender. Perry was victor in one of the greatest 
battles of the war. 

Two of the British vessels sought to escape, the 
" Chippewa " and the " Little Belt," but they were 
pursued by the " Scorpion " and the " Trippe " and 
brought in as captives, Captain Champlin, on the 
" Scorpion," as he had fired the first, now firing the 
last gun in the fight. 

In honor of the good ship in which his great strug- 
gle had been made, Captain Perry accepted the sur- 
render of the British officers on the deck of the " Law- 
rence," amid the frightful scene of ruin and carnage 
which it presented. But the British had left as fright- 
ful scenes on their own decks, for the " Niagara " had 
amply avenged her consort in the destruction wrought. 

This narrative might be extended much farther, but 
we must close it with the famous despatch to General 
Harrison, in which Perry announced his victory: 

" We have met the enemy and they are ours — two 
ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop." 

The news of the victory spread with great rapidity 
through the nation, and was everywhere received with 
enthusiastic rejoicing, for it was felt that it had defi- 
nitely turned back the tide of British success in that 
quarter and saved the settlers of the northwest from 
the terrible visitation of the Indian allies of the Brit- 
ish. Harrison, aided by Perry, followed it up with an 
invasion of Canada, found Proctor and his army in 
retreat and completely defeated them at the battle 
of the Thames, Tecumseh, the Indian leader, being 
killed. The northwest was saved. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 225 

Perry and his officers and men received high honors 
from Congress and the states, and he was long looked 
upon as one of the greatest heroes of the war. There 
were scenes of interest in the remainder of his life, 
but so much space has been given to his one supreme 
achievement that we must briefly end the tale. 

He took part in the defence of Baltimore when 
attacked by the British fleet and army, and after the 
war commanded the " Java " under Decatur in the 
Mediterranean. Given the command of a commodore 
in 1819, he was sent to the West Indies, his squadron 
consisting of the " John Adams," " Constellation " and 
" Nonsuch," his purpose being to deal with the pirates 
of that section. Reaching the Orinoco in July, he 
proceeded up that river in the light-draft " Nonsuch " 
for three hundred miles to Angostura, then the capital 
of Venezuela. Here obtaining compensation for cer- 
tain outrages to American shipping, he returned down 
the river. But yellow fever had broken out in the 
crew. It seized him in the night as the river's mouth 
was neared, and on the 23d of August, 1819, just as 
the ship was entering the harbor of Port-of-Spain, 
Trinidad, the hero of Lake Erie died. 



15 



THOMAS MACDONOUGH AND THE 
WINNING OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN 

On a second of the inland seas of North America 
another famous naval battle was fought, Perry's 
victory on Lake Erie being followed in the fol- 
lowing year by a spectacular victory on Lake Cham- 
plain, of which Thomas Macdonough was the hero. 

Born at Newcastle, Delaware, on December 23d, 
1783, Macdonough begun his naval career as a mid- 
shipman in 1800. The first notable events in his 
career came in 1803 and 1804, when he took part 
with others of later fame in Preble's blockade and 
bombardment of Tripoli. Reaching the Mediterranean 
as an officer of the fated " Philadelphia," he was, for- 
tunately for him, spared the cruel imprisonment which 
fell upon the remainder of the ship's company. 

In her cruise the " Philadelphia " overhauled off 
Cape de Gatt a Moorish warship, the " Meshoba," be- 
longing to Morocco, with which the United States 
was not at war. But beside it lay an American ship, 
and beneath its deck were found American prisoners, 
so the " Meshoba," as a piratical craft, was held to be 
a fair prize, and was left at Gibraltar under Macdon- 
ough as prize master. This fortunate circumstance 
saved him and his prize crew from the dismal fate 
of their fellows. 

Macdonough's connection with the " Philadelphia," 

however, was not yet ended. Serving under Decatur 

in the " Enterprise," he again set foot on the deck of 

his old frigate as a member of that gallant party 

226 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 227 

which, on the night of February 16, 1804, boarded 
the captured frigate in the harbor of TripoH, set her 
on fire, and left her a blazing beacon before the cas- 
tle of the Bashaw, sailing triumphantly away under 
the fire of the Tripolitan batteries. 

On that second notable occasion, six months later, 
when the flotilla of gunboats under Stephen Decatur 
and Richard Somers dashed into the harbor of Tripoli 
and attacked its defenders in their own waters, Mac- 
donough was on Decatur's boat, and when the leading 
Tripolitan gunboat was boarded and Decatur dashed 
along one of its narrow gangvv^ays, Macdonough 
dashed neck and neck with him along the other, and 
his sword grew red in the brief but bloody fight that 
ended in the capture of the prize. That he took an 
active part in the remainder of this fierce contest 
scarcely need be said. 

An anecdote is told of Macdonough during his serv- 
ice in the Mediterranean that is worth repeating as an 
indication of his character. In 1806, a midshipman 
still, though acting as lieutenant on the little brig 
" Siren," he was left in charge of the brig one day 
while the captain was ashore at Gibraltar. During this 
interval a boat put off from a British frigate in the 
harbor and rowed to an American merchantman which 
had just come in and anchored near the " Siren." 
When the boat set out to return there was one more 
man in it than before. Noting this and learning from 
the captain of the merchantman that one of his men 
had been impressed, Macdonough set out in haste with 
a boat's crew of armed men, overtook the frigate's 
boat, and took back the impressed seaman by force. 

Not long after the captain of the frigate came in a 
hot rage to the " Siren " and curtly demanded of Mac- 



228 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

donough why he had " dared to take a man from one 
of his Majesty's boats." Macdonough invited the 
irate captain to the cabin of the " Siren," but he re- 
fused to enter it and repeated his question with threats. 
He would bring his frigate beside the " Siren " and 
take the man by force, he declared. 

" I suppose," said Macdonough, with a glitter in his 
eye, " that your ship can sink the ' Siren,' but as long 
as she swims I shall keep the man." 

" You are a very young man and a very indiscreet 
young man," replied the angry visitor. " Suppose I 
had been in the boat. What would you have done ? " 

" I would have taken the man or lost my life." 

" What, sir ! Would you attempt to stop me if I 
were now to try to impress men from that brig ? " 

" I would ; and, to convince yourself of this, you have 
only to make the attempt." 

Still in a fume, the British captain entered his boat, 
first heading towards his frigate, then turning towards 
the merchant brig. Macdonough immediately set out 
in his boat with an armed crew, rowing in the same 
direction. The threat was enough ; the haughty Briton 
rowed round the brig without attempting to board her, 
and then put off for his own frigate. He had suffered 
a severe moral defeat. The whole operation had appar- 
ently been done to show his contempt for the little 
Yankee warship, but the " Siren " and her bold lieuten- 
ant had decidedly come out ahead. 

Promoted lieutenant in 1807, there is nothing special 
to record about Macdonough until 1813, when he was 
made master commandant and sent to take charge of 
the naval forces in Plattsburg Bay, Lake Champlain. 
This lake was of importance from its position on the 
gateway to New York, the route which Montcalm had 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 229 

followed in the old French war, which Carleton had 
attempted to follow when checked by Arnold in the 
Revolution, and which there was reason to believe 
might be tried again. Perry had stopped invasion by 
the way of Lake Erie ; Chauncey was still engaged in 
operations for the mastery of Lake Ontario ; but Lake 
Champlain was of great importance in the struggle 
now under way, and the defence of it was intrusted 
to Macdonough, as that of Erie had been to the 
equally youthful Perry. 

The only means of naval warfare which the new 
commander found on the lake intrusted to his care 
consisted of two small armed sloops, the " Growler " 
and the " Eagle." These he sent out in chase of three 
British gunboats, which were pursued so eagerly that 
the sloops came unwittingly within range of a fort 
and of several other gunboats, and, hotly attacked, 
were forced to surrender. The lake was thus left 
without an American armed vessel on its waters. 

Macdonough felt it necessary to replace this loss 
without delay, and to do so took possession of a mer- 
chant sloop, which he armed with seven long nine- 
pounders, naming it the " Preble." In the early 
spring of the next year he began the building of a 
ship, to be called the " Saratoga," laying her keel at 
Vergennes, on Otter Creek, Vermont. At this place 
were iron works to supply the bar iron needed, forests 
in abundance for timber, and a foundry which in 
time turned him out nearly two hundred tons of shot 
for his guns. He found here also a merchant steamer, 
the machinery of which had the trick of getting out 
of order in every voyage, so he took out its engine 
and fitted it up as a schooner, naming it the " Ticon- 
deroga." 



230 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

News coming to him that a British expedition for 
the destruction of his vessels was projected, he pre- 
pared for it by sending a force of seamen and militia 
to a battery near the mouth of the creek. An attack 
was made on this by gunboats on May 14, 1814, but 
after an hour's exchange of fire the assault ceased and 
the gunboats retreated. A few days later Macdon- 
ough brought his small squadron out of the creek 
and, with the gunboats he added to his three vessels, 
had a force that made him master of the lake for the 
time being. 

He was none too soon, for the British in Canada 
had in project an invasion like that undertaken by Bur- 
goyne in the Revolution, with the purpose of holding 
the line of the Hudson and cutting off New England 
from the other states. In addition to the captured 
sloops " Growler " and " Eagle," they had built a 
brig, the " Linnet." But these were too small to meet 
Macdonough's present force and the keel of a frigate 
was laid, of some twelve hundred tons burden. This 
was launched at Isle-aux-Noix in the Sorel River, the 
outlet of the lake, on the 2Sth of August, 1814. 

So far the contest had been one of the saw and the 
adze. Learning what his antagonists were doing, Mac- 
donough now went back to Vergennes, laid the keel 
of a brig on July 29, and worked on her with such dil- 
igence that she was launched on August 16, having 
been built in nineteen days. She was of the size of 
Perry's brigs, the " Lawrence " and " Niagara," being 
of nearly five hundred tons burden. Named at first the 
" Surprise," she was afterwards called the " Eagle." 
Such was the force with which the Americans fought 
the battle of Lake Champlain. 

It consisted of the corvette " Saratoga," the brig 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 231 

" Eagle," the schooner " Ticonderoga," and the sloop 
" Preble," in addition to which there was a flotilla of 
ten gunboats. They carried in all eighty-six guns of 
various calibre, and nearly nine hundred men. On the 
other hand, the British had their new frigate, the 
" Confiance," the brig " Linnet," and the two vessels 
captured the year before from the Americans and 
now named the " Chubb " and the " Finch." In addi- 
tion were twelve gunboats, the total number of guns 
and men not dift'ering much from those of the Ameri- 
can fleet, though the British had the preponderance 
in long-range guns. 

Such were the naval forces with which the mastery 
of Lake Champlain was to be gained for one or the 
other side. The coming contest meant much to the 
Americans, as victory for the British might prove very 
serious, Sir George Prevost, governor general of Can- 
ada, being on his way to Plattsburg with an invading 
army of 11,000 men, veterans most of them, who had 
fought under Wellington in Spain. Against these Gen- 
eral Macomb had at first only 1500 regulars, though 
several thousands of militia joined him later, among 
them being 2500 of those Green Mountain Boys who 
had fought so bravely in former years. 

It is a matter of interest that the struggle for Lake 
Champlain took place not far from where Arnold had 
fought his desperate battle nearly forty years before, 
Macdonough making his stand in Plattsburg Bay, 
behind the peninsula known as Cumberland Head 
and not far north of Arnold's station at Valcour 
Island. The advantage of this position was that the 
British squadron, in coming down the lake with a fair 
wind, would have to round up against the wind to 
reach the American ships, thus giving the latter the 



-O" 



IIKKOKS OF TllK NAVY 



wcallior R'au.^c. Meet Ihoni tlioy must. They tlid not 
ihiir U) j;o clown the lake and leave the y\nieriean 
S(|uatlri)n in their rear. Such was the stale ol' a 11 airs 
on lliat memorable nth of Sei>leml)er. iSi.]. when 
was l'on.L;lit the greatest naval hatlle. aside from thai 
of Lake haie, that American inlaml wati-rs have ever 
known. To Thomas JVlacdonough. lieutenant in 
rank, commodore only by courtesy, was opposed Cap 
tain (leorge Downie, an older man and one of niueh 
wider experience in na\al warfare. Yet as dn- event 
pioved, in this case' as in that of C'aptain Terry, youth 
and conrai'v counted hii;h. 

l\laccl(iiiou,i;h, on taking his .stand in I'lattsburg Bay, 
aiulioii'd his vessels in a line nearly north and .south. 
the " l'"aL;li' " at the north etui o{ the line, being so near 
I umherland I li-ad that it would not be easy to pass her 
and double up on the Americans. The other vessi'ls in 
order were the " Saratog.a." the " Ticonderoga." .and 
the " IMc-ble." the gunboats supp.orting this weak end 
of till- line. Macdouough had further arranged to dr(^p 
an anchor, if necessary, at llu- stern, with cables .so ar- 
I angi-d that the ship could be " wound " — in nautical 
pliiase that is, swtmg rotmd so as to present the oppo- 
site broadside. This precaution calls for nu'ution here. 
as to it tlu> idtimale victory was due. 

.Siuh was the state of alTairs on the morning of 
.Smiday, September i i, iSi.j. It was a beautiful morn- 
ing, with a ple;is:mt northerly bree/e, one f.avorable for 
the southward movement of the Hrilish Heel. 1'hat it 
was to be a d;iv of battle manv felt assured, and two 
])arties of spectators waitt'd with interest and anxiety 
for the event, the P.ritish troops under Sir Ceorge 
rrev(xst, encamped in riatlsbmg on the north b;mk 
of Saranac Kivtr, and the American militia, lying 



HEROICS OF 11 lie NAVY 2^2, 

behind their breastworks on the sonthern siile of llu- 
same stream. In the lake oil the point of Cumberland 
Head a look-out boat awaited to give warning of the 
coming of the foe. 

At eight o'clock this boat was seen lo leave its sta- 
tion and row swiftly into the bay, with signals dis- 
played. Instantly there was a brisk stir on (he awail- 
ing ships, and the drums were heard calling llie men lo 
(jiiarters. Shortly afterwards the white sails of the 
new Uritish frigate were visible above the trees on 
Cumberland Head, and soon the whole squadron 
rounded the point. Well aware of the position of IIk^ 
American sf|uadron, they rounded up into the wind, 
heading towards the awailing line, the sloop " Chubb " 
at the north end of their formation, the brig " Linnet " 
next, then the frigate " Confiance " and the sloop 
" L^inch," the flock of gunboats closing the line. 

Silently the Americans awaited them. " Macdon- 
ough, who feared his foes not at all and his (lod a great 
deal, knelt for a moment, with his officers, on the 
fjuarter-dcck." Then they rose with earnest faces and 
stood in resolute demeanor at their posts. 

The first shot came from the " Limiet " while still a 
tnile away. Tt fell short. A little later others came, 
aimed at the " Saratoga," all of fhem phmging into the 
water except one, but this produced a notable effect. 
Crossing the rail, it struck and knocked to pieces a 
chicken-coop in which was a i)et fighting cock l)elong- 
ing to one of the sailors. The released bird at once 
flew valorously to a position in the rigging, flapped his 
wings vigorously and crowed with all the power of his 
hmgs. Shouts, cheers and roars of laughter from the 
sailors followed this demonstration, which doubtless 
some of them hailed as a tocsin peal of victory. 



234 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The first shot in return to the British guns came 
from the " Saratoga," aimed and fired by Macdonough 
himself. It was an effective one, striking the " Confi- 
ance " near her port hawse-pipe, killing or wounding 
several men on her gun-deck, and ending by smashing 
her steering wheel. 

The battle was now fully on, the " Chubb " and 
"Linnet" facing the "Eagle," the " Confiance " 
abreast of the " Saratoga," the " Finch " fronting the 
" Ticonderoga," and the guns on both sides at work to 
their full capacity. In a moment almost the " Chubb " 
was out of the fight. One broadside from the " Eagle " 
so disabled her that she drifted away with more than 
half her crew killed and wounded. A shot from the 
" Saratoga " as she passed brought down her flag, and 
she was taken in charge by an American midshipman, 
who took her in near to the Plattsburg shore. 

While this was going on. Captain Downie brought 
the " Confiance," from which no shot had yet been 
fired, into within a few hundred yards of the " Sara- 
toga," where his anchor was dropped. Then, from 
double-shotted and well-aimed guns, a broadside was 
fired of almost annihilating force. The shock on the 
" Saratoga," as the tempest of iron plunged through 
her timbers, was frightful. Of her men more than a 
hundred were hurled prostrate as she reeled and shiv- 
ered before the terrible concussion, forty of them being 
killed or wounded. Peter Gamble, her first lieutenant, 
was among the slain. 

A part of the broadside of the " Confiance " was now 
directed against the " Eagle," which was already in a 
hot fight with the " Linnet." The fire upon her soon 
became so fierce that she was obliged to cut her cable 
and move out of danger. Passing back of the " Sara- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 235 

toga," she took a new position between it and the " Ti- 
conderoga," and soon her guns were effectively at play 
on the British flagship. The " Linnet " now turned all 
her guns on the " Saratoga," in aid of the " Confiance," 
and, for the time being, the battle seemed strongly in 
favor of the British, 

Yet Macdonough was fighting his ship for all she 
was worth. Like Perry on Lake Erie, he took charge 
of a gun himself, loading and firing with a precision of 
aim that told with deadly effect. He was in the heart 
of the fight, and narrowly escaped death. While 
bending over his gun, a shot from the " Confiance " cut 
the spanker-boom in two, a piece of it knocking him 
senseless to the deck. The alarm cry, " The commo- 
dore is killed ! " ran along the deck, but he soon dis- 
proved it by rising to his feet. He was quickly 
prostrated again by a new and strange missile, the head 
of a gun-captain, shot off and hurled against him with 
stunning force. Before this Captain Downie, the Brit- 
ish commander, had been killed, Lieutenant John Rob- 
ertson, a brave and capable man, succeeding him. 

To Macdonough, when he gained his feet again, the 
case looked desperate. The " Linnet " lay in a raking 
position, and its fire was so effective that many of his 
gvms were dismounted. The gunboats had driven the 
sloop " Preble " out of the fight. The " Ticonderoga " 
had disabled the sloop " Finch," which had drifted 
down and gone aground on Crab Island, but she was 
being hotly attacked by the British gunboats, which 
gave her and the American galleys all they could at- 
tend to. Thus the " Saratoga," with what aid the 
" Eagle " could give in her new position, had opposed 
to her the " Confiance " and the " Linnet," on which 
were concentrated the great bulk of the British guns. 



236 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The " Confiance " was firing hot shot from some of 
her guns, and had more than once set her antagonist on 
fire. So destructive was the fire that the time came 
when Macdonough had not a gun left in condition to 
use on the fighting side of his ship. 

The case now looked worse than desperate for the 
Americans, but Macdonough proved equal to the occa- 
sion, at this critical moment putting into efiFect that 
famous example of marine tactics that gave him the 
victory. Calling his men, he bade them drop the 
anchor hanging at the stern, and then to haul on the 
spring hawser leading to the forecastle. In a moment 
the ship began to swing round before the wind as if 
on a pivot. For a moment her stern was pointed at 
the frigate and a raking shot that struck her bulwarks 
sent splinters flying that tore oflf all the clothes from 
Peter Blum, the sailing master, though leaving him 
unharmed. In a minute more the " Saratoga " had 
swung fully round and presented her fresh broadside 
to the enemy and her guns quickly began a destructive 
play. 

Taking example from this evolution, the men of the 
" Confiance " were put at the same work. But, done 
hastily and without previous preparation, it proved a 
failure of the most disastrous kind. When half round, 
in a position to be raked and in which she could not 
bring a gun to bear, the vessel stuck fast, and, do what 
they could, it was impossible for the crew to move her 
out of her perilous position. Her case was hopeless. 
Torn and rent by the guns of the " Saratoga," which 
bore upon her defenceless stern and raked her to her 
bows, and unable to fire a gun in return, onlv utter 
ravage and ruin awaited her, and, with sore heart, her 
commander ordered the British flag to be pulled down. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 2Z7 

The " Saratoga " was then swung by the hawser 
until her guns bore on the " Linnet " and greeted her 
with a stunning broadside. Her captain bravely re- 
turned the fire for a time. But, finding that the flag- 
ship had struck, that the " Finch " and " Chubb " had 
surrendered, that the gunboats had been driven off by 
the " Ticonderoga," and that his own vessel was in a 
desperate state, her masts deeply cut into, her rigging 
in tatters, and water pouring in at shot holes in her 
hull, he felt that he had done all that honor demanded, 
and down came his flag. Two hours and fifteen min- 
utes had passed since the battle fairly began, and Mac- 
donough was now lord of Lake Champlain. The 
rooster in the rigging had not crowed in vain. 

As the smoke drifted away from the ships and the 
patriots on shore saw that only the Stars and Stripes 
floated to the breeze, a shout arose such as those green 
hills had never echoed before. As for the British at 
Plattsburg, brought there to invade the American 
states, utter silence told their feelings, and when night 
came with storm Sir George Prevost, regardless of the 
fact that his veterans outnumbered the Americans, reg- 
ulars and militia, two to one, slipped secretly from his 
camp and made his way in craven flight back to Can- 
ada, perhaps with the fate of Burgoyne troubling his 
recreant soul. It is said that the chagrin of his defeat 
led to his death. 

The only vessels to escape were those of the British 
gunboats which had not been sunk. Pursuit of them 
was out of the question, as all the vessels were reported 
to be in a sinking state and every man was needed at 
the pumps. The Americans had lost in the fight fifty- 
two men killed and fifty-eight seriously wounded, with 
others slightly hurt. The British loss was at least 



238 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

three hundred, probably more, as no complete report 
was made. 

The battle over, Macdonoiigh wrote as follows to the 
Secretary of the Navy : " The Almighty has been 
pleased to grant lis a signal victory on Lake Champlain, 
in the capture of one frigate, one brig, and two sloops- 
of-war of the enemy." The religious tone of this re- 
port was in consonance with his prayer on the quarter- 
deck before the battle began. 

The victory of Macdonough was recognized by Con- 
gress in its usual manner, by the voting of gold medals 
to Macdonough and his captains, and silver medals to 
the other officers, he being also promoted post-captain. 
The crews were duly rewarded with prize money and 
extra pay. A more substantial reward came to the 
victor from the states of New York and Vermont, 
which he had saved from the perils and outrages of in- 
vasion. New York voted him two thousand acres of 
land, while Vermont bought for him a farm of two 
hundred acres on Cumberland Head, overlooking the 
scene of his victory. 

The remainder of Macdonough's life was unevent- 
ful, and may be told in a paragraph. After the war he 
was engaged in the foreign and home service, his last 
command being as commodore of the Mediterranean 
squadron. His health breaking down here, he was 
brought home in a trading vessel sent by the govern- 
ment. He died on this voyage, November i6, 1825. 



SAMUEL CHESTER REID AND THE GAL- 
LANT DEFENCE OF THE "GEN- 
ERAL ARMSTRONG" 

The war with Great Britain was approaching its 
end when the famous exploit we have now to describe 
took place. On the night of September 26, 1814, 
in the harbor of Fayal, Azores Islands, an American 
privateer captain had the effrontery to try conclusions 
with a whole squadron of British warships and the 
fortune to save his ship from capture at their hands. 
This gallant fellow was Samuel Chester Reid, with 
whose career we have now to deal. 

The hero of our story was born in Norwich, Con- 
necticut, August 25, 1783, the son of an officer of the 
royal navy who had been taken prisoner at New Lon- 
don, Connecticut, in 1778, and had afterwards resigned 
his commission and entered the American service. The 
son began his career on the ocean in 1794, at eleven 
years of age. He was taken prisoner by a French 
privateer and detained for six months. Then becoming 
a midshipman in the United States Navy, he served 
on the sloop-of-war " Baltimore," and was afterwards 
a sailing master in the navy. When war broke out 
with Great Britain in 1812 he was commissioned cap- 
tain, and as such, in September, 1814, took command 
of the brigantine " General Armstrong," sailing on the 
9th and running the blockade of the British squadron 
off Sandy Hook. As yet Reid had made no mark in 
the war. He was to make a substantial mark in the 
present cruise. 

239 



240 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The " General Armstrong " had been on the seas as 
a privateer through most of the war, and had taken 
nineteen prizes. Mounting at first eighteen long nine- 
pounders and one long twelve, she was afterwards de- 
prived of twelve of her nine-pounders for use in a fort, 
these being replaced by a forty-two-pounder, placed 
amidships and intended for use as a " long torn." Such 
was her armament when Captain Reid began his voy- 
age, with instructions from the owners to cruise near 
the Madeiras and seek to make prizes from the Brazil 
traders. He was advised to be particular in strictly 
prohibiting any plunder or depredation. As it proved, 
his cruise was destined to be a brief one, and the " Gen- 
eral Armstrong " to close her career in a blaze of glory. 

Leaving New York, he was chased by two big ships 
of the blockading fleet, but ran away from them. 
Then, standing across the Atlantic, he entered Fayal 
Roads on the 26th of September, and anchored there 
for the purpose of getting a supply of water and of 
fresh provisions. He felt safe in those waters, for 
John B. Dabney, the American consul at Fayal, told 
him that no British cruisers had been in that quarter 
for several weeks. But that same day, about sundown, 
while the consul and some friends were visiting the 
privateer, a British war-brig, the " Carnation," sud- 
denly appeared rounding the northeast cape of the 
harbor. 

Fayal was a neutral port, and Consul Dabney was 
sure that the British would respect its neutrality. Reid 
had his doubts of this, for in those days the rights of 
weak powers were little regarded. This they were 
soon to learn. As Reid states, as soon as the " Carna- 
tion " took on a pilot " she hauled close in and let go 
her anchor within pistol-shot of us." As she anchored, 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 241 

two larger vessels appeared in the harbor's mouth, the 
frigate " Rota " and the hne-of-battle ship " Plantag- 
enet." 

It was quickly evident that the " Carnation " meant 
hostilities. She exchanged signals with the new-com- 
ers, and dropped all her boats into the water, one of 
them rowing off to the " Plantagenet." Seeing that 
there was mischief in the air. Captain Reid got his ship 
ready for action, lifted his anchor, and, with the aid of 
long sweeps, rowed his vessel away from the enemy 
and close inshore. The moon was shining brightly, 
and every move could be seen as easily as by daylight. 
No sails were set on the " Armstrong," the wind being 
very faint, but as soon as the captain of the " Carna- 
tion " saw his proposed prize in movement, he set sail 
in pursuit, at the same time manning four boats with 
armed men and sending them after her. 

With the overwhelming force against him, it seemed 
madness for Captain Reid to attempt resistance, but it 
was soon evident that he proposed nothing less, for he 
dropped his anchor, got springs on his cable, and tied 
up a stout rope net all round the vessel, one not easy 
to cut or to climb over. Then, as the boats came near, 
he hailed them again and again. No reply was made, 
and no indication shown that his hail was heard other 
than to quicken their stroke. Their intention was now 
so evident that it became necessary either to yield 
or to fight. Reid daringly decided on the latter and 
opened fire upon the approaching boats. 

They returned the fire and dashed on at their best 
speed. But the guns of the " Armstrong " now spoke 
out with a will, and before they reached her side, they 
had been so severely punished that the fight was 
quite taken out of them. Some of the men demanded 
16 



242 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

quarter, while the others turned the boats around and 
rowed back in all haste. How many of their men suf- 
fered is not known, but the " Armstrong " had one 
man killed and its first lieutenant wounded. 

Knowing well that this was but the beginning of 
the affair, Reid now had his vessel hauled in closo 
to the shore, a pistol-shot away from the Portuguese 
castle that stood there, mooring her head and stern 
to the beach and calmly awaiting the next move of 
the enemy. His men waited for the coming fight 
with a resolution like his own, and on shore the whole 
population of the place, the Portuguese governor 
among them, gathered on the surrounding heights 
to watch the fray. 

The next movement was not long delayed. By 
nine o'clock the " Carnation " was seen coming in, 
covering a large fleet of boats. Leaving her, they took 
shelter behind a reef of rocks not far from the " Arm- 
strong." Not till midnight did they make the expected 
dash, coming up in three divisions of four boats each. 

Captain Reid waited until they were within close 
range before opening fire, and then gave them a 
staggering shot from his " long tom." Returning 
the fire with carronades, boat-howitzers, and muskets, 
they dashed for the schooner, cheering as they came. 
Meeting them with a round from his four remaining 
cannon, Reid and his men now sprang to face them 
at the schooner's rail, the sailors seeking to cut their 
way in with cutlasses, the marines attacking witli 
muskets and bayonets. But the Yankees stood 
valiantly at their posts, shooting, stabbing, and slash- 
ing back. From their point of vantage they did im- 
mensely more harm than they received. 

There were more than three hundred, perhaps ne?.rly 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 243 

four hundred, of the British to the eighty-eight Ameri- 
cans, and they had attacked the ship from three quar- 
ters, but not a man of them was able to stand for a 
minute on the " Armstrong's " deck. Only at the fore- 
castle did the defence for a moment weaken, the sec- 
ond lieutenant being killed and the third lieutenant 
wounded, but Captain Reid charged with his victors 
from the quarter-deck and drove the last boat from 
the ship's side. Two boats were captured, " literally 
loaded with their own dead. Seventeen only had es- 
caped from them both " — by swimming to the shore. 
Several boats were destroyed. " In another boat under 
our quarter, commanded by one of the lieutenants of 
the Tlantagenet,' all were killed save four." Con- 
sul Dabney states that the British officers admitted 
to him " that they had lost in killed, and who had 
died since the engagement, upward of one hundred and 
twenty of the flower of their officers and men. The 
captain of the ' Rota ' told me that he lost seventy men 
from his ship." This for the killed and mortally 
wounded ; how many less badly hurt there were is not 
stated, but the number was probably large. On the 
American side the loss is stated at two killed and 
seven wounded. Certainly in few naval battles of 
the war did the British sustain a greater loss than in 
this unwarranted attempt to capture a privateer in 
neutral waters, and in none was there so great a dis- 
crepancy in losses on the two sides. 

The Americans remained on guard during the re- 
mainder of the night, but their assailants had had their 
fill of boat attacks. At three o'clock in the morning 
Captain Reid landed at Consul Dabney's request, and 
was told that the governor had sent a note to Cap- 
tain Lloyd, of the " Plantagenet," begging him to 



244 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

cease hostilities. His reply was that he would take 
the privateer if he had to batter down the whole town 
in the effort. 

As it was evident from this that all hope of saving 
the schooner was at an end, Captain Reid sent his 
wounded ashore and had all the effects of the crew 
landed, but remained to fight for his vessel to the last 
gasp. At daybreak the " Carnation " came in and 
opened fire, to which Reid replied so effectively that 
the brig was forced to draw off to repair damages to 
her rigging. On her return Captain Reid, having 
fought his vessel to the last gasp, scuttled and aban- 
doned her. The British were quickly on board and 
set her on fire, and in a blaze of glory the " General 
Armstrong " ended her career. 

Captain Lloyd, deeply chagrined at the result, now 
declared that two deserters from the Sandy Hook 
blockading fleet were in the privateer's crew and de- 
manded that they should be brought before him. The 
Portuguese governor obeyed, sent a force to the moun- 
tains where the Americans had taken refuge, and 
brought the crew back for inspection by the British 
officers. The expected deserters, however, were not 
found among them, and this final effort failed. Not 
knowing, however, what new move might be made by 
the irate captain of the " Plantagenet," Captain Reid 
now took possession of a deserted convent, fortified it, 
and ran up the flag of the " Armstrong " above its 
walls. He was left there undisturbed. Captain Lloyd 
could not afford another attack against these sharp- 
shooting and hard-hitting Yankee privateersmen. The 
affair detained the British squadron a week in the har- 
bor, a delay that told in favor of the Americans in a 
far-off field. The ships were bound for Jamaica, to 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 245 

reenforce the fleet gathered there for the attack on 
New Orleans, and their delay at Fayal gave General 
Jackson so much more time to prepare that city for 
defence. Thus Captain Reid's brave fight had an im- 
portant influence upon the fortunes of the Americans 
in the last great land battle of the war. 

The news of the fight at Fayal in due time reached 
the United States, and was received with enthusiasm 
and delight. Captain Reid landed at St. Mary, Florida, 
on his return, and was received with an ovation at 
every city on his way north to New York. That city 
gave him a silver service and the State voted him a 
gold sword as testimonials for his gallant defence, 
while Congress made him a post captain and the 
President appointed him harbor master at New York 
city. 

The famous " long tom " of the " General Arm- 
strong " was presented to the United States by the 
King of Portugal in President Harrison's adminis- 
tration, and is now held as one of the naval treasures 
of this country. 

In his later career Captain Reid made himself prom- 
inent in various ways. He invented and erected the 
first marine telegraph between the highlands of Nave- 
sink and the Battery at New York, published a code 
of signals for all vessels of the United States, and 
established a lightship off Sandy Hook. He possessed 
a strong inventive talent, and in 1826 invented a new 
system of land telegraphy by which he demonstrated 
that news could be sent from Washington to New 
Orleans in two hours' time. This far surpassed any 
system then in use, and a bill was introduced in Con- 
gress for its adoption, but before any action was 
taken upon it the Morse system of electric telegraphy 



246 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

was invented and threw into the background all other 
systems known. 

One of the most interesting events connected with 
Captain Reid has to do with the American flag. As 
first formed this flag had thirteen stars and thirteen 
stripes, corresponding to the number of the original 
States, but in 1794, after the admission of Kentucky 
and Vermont, these were increased to fifteen each. 
This was the flag that waved over American ships 
and strongholds during the war with which we are 
here concerned, and the one whose " broad stripes 
and proud stars," floating from the ramparts of Fort 
McHenry at Baltimore, inspired Francis Scott Key to 
write his famous national song, " The Star- Spangled 
Banner." This flag is still in existence, in the pos- 
session of a descendant of Colonel Armistead, the gal- 
lant defender of Fort McHenry. It has fifteen stars 
and fifteen stripes, the stripes each two feet wide and 
the stars two feet from point to point. It is thirty 
feet wide, and in its present dilapidated condition 
thirty-two feet long, though its original length was 
probably not less than forty feet. 

But the time came when it was necessary to make 
a change. Four new States were successively ad- 
mitted, ending with Indiana in 1816, and a committee 
was now appointed to decide what change should be 
made in the flag. During the considerations of the 
committee Captain Reid was asked to make a design 
for the flag which would properly represent the in- 
crease of the States without destroying its distinctive 
character. He at once suggested that the stripes 
should be reduced to thirteen, to represent the original 
states, and that the stars should be increased to the 
actual number of states, a new one being added for 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 247 

every new state admitted. He further recommended 
that the stars should be arranged in the form of one 
great star, whose brilhancy should represent the Union, 
and illustrate the national motto, E Pluribus Unum. 
A law was passed to this effect, being approved April 
4, 18 1 8, though it did not designate how many points 
the stars should have or how they should be arranged. 
The first flag under the new design was made by Mrs. 
Reid, the wife of the designer, its stars being arranged 
to form one great five-pointed star. It was flung to 
the breeze from the flag-staff of the House of Repre- 
sentatives;^ April 14, 1818, though the law did not come 
into effect till the 4th of July. 

Captain Reid, who had long been out of the navy, 
reentered it in 1842, and retired in 1856. He died at 
New York January 28th, 1861, his last words being, 
" Now I shall solve the great mystery of life." 



CHARLES STEWART AND THE FINAL 
VICTORY OF "OLD IRONSIDES" 

The United States did not shine in the land opera- 
tions of the war of 1812, but it found a field of glory 
on the ocean that astonished the natives, dismayed 
the British lion, and took from England all warrant 
for her proud boast, " Britannia rules the waves." 
During that war America proved herself the real ruler 
of the waves, winning a multitude of victories and 
leaving to England only her capture of the " Chesa- 
peake " to boast of. Her taking of the " Essex " was 
a result of untoward circumstances, and Porter showed 
that, had he been given an even chance, he would have 
carried off the honors of the fight. We have de- 
scribed many of these gallant contests for the mastery 
of the seas. There is one more to be told in which the 
brave old " Constitution " added a final star to her 
crown of glory. It was fought after peace — unknown 
to the contestants — had been declared, and thus fitly 
comes in at the end of our record of that war. 

Charles Stewart, the winner of the victory alluded 
to, was born in Philadelphia, July 28, 1778, and at 
thirteen years of age began his maritime career as 
cabin boy on a merchant vessel sailing from that port. 
In 1798, when twenty years of age, he commanded a 
vessel in the India trade, and in the same year was 
made a midshipman in the United States service. He 
was promoted to a lieutenancy in 1799 and assigned to 
the frigate " United States," Decatur and Somers being 
his fellows in his first cruise. His first separate com- 
248 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 249 

mand was of the " Enterprise," a vessel whose career 
we have already described. In July, 1800, he was 
assigned to the schooner " Experiment " and sent on 
a cruise against the French privateers in the West In- 
dies. Here he captured the privateers " Deux Amis '' 
and " Diana," and recaptured several American vessels 
that had been taken by them or others. During the 
same cruise Stewart had the good fortune to rescue 
sixty women and children, who had been wrecked 
wlien escaping from the negro revolution in Santo Do- 
mingo, a service which the Spanish governor recog- 
nized in a letter of thanks to the President. 

His next field of service was in the Mediterranean, 
where, still a lieutenant, he commanded the little brig 
" Siren " in Preble's squadron. When the plan for 
destroying the " Philadelphia " was broached, he was 
an eager contestant for the honor of commanding 
the expedition. It was given to Decatur, but Stewart 
was sent with him in the " Siren " to lie off the har- 
bor and pick up the adventurers if they were obliged 
to take to their boats. Fortunately, this was not 
necessary. The blazing rigging of the frigate and 
the wild fire of the Tripolitan batteries advised Stew- 
art of the success of the daring enterprise, and he 
was the first to congratulate Decatur on his brilliant 
success. 

Stewart was one of the last to bid good-by to the 
brave Richard Somers when he entered the harbor of 
Tripoli on that daring fire-ship expedition from which 
he was never to return. Before going Somers took a 
ring from his finger and broke it into three pieces, 
giving one to each of his intimate friends and old 
companions, Decatur and Stewart, and keeping the 
third for himself. The pieces were to be kept as 



250 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

mementos of him if he should not return, and for such 
mournful duty they served. 

Promoted captain in 1806, he was assigned to the 
" Essex," but during the years from 1806 to 1812 he 
was engaged in the merchant service. When the toc- 
sin of war again sounded, however, he was prompt in 
returning to his old field of duty and, with Bain- 
bridge, strongly protested against the cautious policy 
at first adopted by the Government of withdrawing 
all its war vessels from the ocean. His vigorous as- 
surance that American seamen had whipped the Brit- 
ish before and could do it again induced the Secretary 
of the Navy to change this policy, or at least to give 
our captains a trial on the high seas. Soon the vessels 
of the Republic were demonstrating that Stewart and 
Bainbridge were correct. 

Stewart's first command in this war was in the 
frigate " Constellation," but this good ship was so 
closely blockaded by the British in Hampton Roads 
that it failed to get out during the war. He was 
transferred later to the " Constitution," but with her 
also was destined to a long delay before he could get 
to sea, the ship being found in such a condition of 
decay after her return from her victory over the 
" Java " that she had to be hauled out and fairly re- 
built. The greater part of her crew were sent to the 
lakes, some of them helping Perry in his memorable 
fight, others aiding Chauncey in his operations on 
Lake Ontario. 

It was December 30th, 1813, before Stewart was 
able to set sail. Boston, like all our ports at that time, 
was blockaded by a British squadron, but he found no 
difficulty in eluding the cruisers and gaining the open 
seas. This first cruise, however, added little to his 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 251 

fame or that of the " Constitution." Heading for the 
Windward Islands and the coast of Guiana, he was 
out for seventeen days without seeing a sail. It was 
February 14th, 18 14, before a British ship came in 
sight. This was the sixteen-gun war-schooner " Pic- 
ton," which he overhauled on the coast of Surinam, 
capturing her and a letter-of-marque that was under 
her convoy. 

On his way northward Captain Stewart had what 
he deemed the good fortune to fall in with a British 
frigate, but he soon had the ill-fortune to lose her. 
This was the thirty-six-gun ship " La Pique." By 
this time the British captains were not so eager to 
engage American ships as they had been at the opening 
of the war, and Captain Maitland, of the " La Pique/' 
had written orders from the Admiralty not to engage 
a ship of the weight of the " Constitution." Met with 
off the coast of Porto Rico, he took advantage of the 
coming on of night to make a run through the Mona 
passage, and escaped his pursuer. 

Stewart soon afterwards had to make a run him- 
self, as he met two British frigates, the " Junon " and 
" Tenedos," each his full match, off Cape Ann. Be- 
fore this double force there was nothing for it but to 
run, and by throwing overboard provisions and start- 
ing the water supply he got the " Constitution " into 
the harbor of Marblehead. This port was undefended, 
but the British frigates did not venture in for an at- 
tack ; nor were they able to prevent Stewart from get- 
ting back to Boston. 

It was neither easy to get into nor to get out of port 
in those days of strict British blockade, and the " Con- 
stitution " remained cooped up in harbor until Decem- 
ber 17th, when she took advantage of the temporary 



252 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

absence of the blockading ships from their posts to sUp 
out again. The news that this dreaded ship was on 
the ocean once more soon spread and, as we are told, 
" thereafter British ships-of-the-line maintained a dou- 
ble look-out and their smaller frigates sailed in couples, 
while their sloops-of-war stood away from every sail 
that bore the least resemblance to the ' Constitution.' " 

In less than a week Stewart had picked up his first 
prize, this being the merchant ship " Lord Nelson," 
taken off the Bermudas. Thence sail was made for the 
Madeira Islands and from there northward to the wa- 
ters of Portugal, where for several days the " Consti- 
tution " cruised within sight of the Rock of Lisbon. 
The war was now over, the treaty of peace having 
been signed, but of this the ships at sea were not aware 
and the naval warfare continued unabated, as did that 
on land so far as the assault on New Orleans was con- 
cerned. The treaty was signed at Ghent on Christmas 
Eve, 1814, but Stewart's great feat did not take place 
until nearly two months afterwards. 

On February i8th, 181 5, he put his ship in chase of 
the great liner '' Elizabeth." not knowing what he was 
after, but a smaller sail led him off her track and the 
merchant ship " Susan " fell into his hands. While he 
was thus engaged the " Elizabeth " put in at Lisbon, 
where her captain learned that the " Constitution " was 
prowling outside. As it happened, Captain Dacres, 
formerly of the " Guerriere," was there in command of 
the frigate " Tiber " and eager for a brush with his old 
foe. The two hastened out in search of the daring 
Yankee craft, but did not find her, for the " Constitu- 
tion " was now winging her way swiftly south again, 
with the Madeiras for her goal. 

On the dav after the event described the following 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 253 

curious conversation took place on the deck of the 
American ship, as told by Richard Watson Gilder in 
" Hours at Home." A group of officers were standing 
on the quarter-deck bewailing their ill-luck in having 
met no foe of equal force in their cruise, when Captain 
Stewart, who overheard them, said : 

" I assure you, gentlemen, that before the sun again 
rises and sets you will be engaged in battle with the 
enemy, and it will not be with a single ship." 

Presentiments often came to Captain Stewart, and 
they proved true so often that he had come to believe 
in them. The event proved that he was not wrong in 
this strange prediction, whatever its source. 

At noon of the next day, February 20, the " Consti- 
tution " had reached a point about one hundred and 
eighty miles in a northeast direction from Madeira, and 
was moving easily along before a light breeze from the 
east. At one o'clock came from aloft the ever-welcome 
hail of " Sail ho ! " and in an instant all on deck were 
on the qui vive. The sail lay a little off the port bow of 
the " Constitution," and all sail was at once made in 
chase. An hour later a second sail was seen some dis- 
tance in advance of the first. It looked as if the strange 
prediction was coming true. 

The first ship was now lifting, and her sides seemed 
to display the ports of a fifty-gun ship — the fact being 
that she had false ports painted along her side. Cap- 
tain Stewart doubted if she was as large as this 
seemed to make her, but philosophically remarked : 

" Be this as it may, you know I promised you a 
fight before the setting of to-day's sun, and if we do 
not take it now that it is offered, we can scarcely have 
another chance. We must flog them when we catch 
them, whether she has one gun-deck or two." 



254 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

As it was afterwards learned, the ship in question 
was the small frigate " Cyane," and the second was 
the ship-rigged sloop-of-war " Levant," the two to- 
gether not being a full match for the " Constitution." 
But they evidently proposed to fight her, for as the 
American frigate came bowling along before the wind 
the " Cyane " was seen signalling to her consort, and a 
little later wore round and spread all sail to join her. 
An accident to the " Constitution " at this juncture de- 
layed the pursuit, the freshening breeze breaking the 
main-royal-mast short off under the pressure of its can- 
vas. For the next fifteen minutes there was a lively 
time on deck and aloft, then a new mast was got up, 
sail spread again, and the chase resumed at top speed. 
At five o'clock the " Constitution " was close enough up 
to try a few shots with her bow-chasers, all of which 
fell short. 

The " Cyane " and " Levant " were now near to- 
gether and both stripped down to fighting canvas. 
Soon, however, they made sail again, probably with 
the purpose of putting off the fight till nightfall, to 
obtain what advantage the darkness might give. But it 
was quickly evident that delay was out of the question, 
the " Constitution " being too close upon them, and they 
came back to the starboard tack, the " Levant " in ad- 
vance, the " Cyane " about two hundred yards astern. 
At 6. TO o'clock the " Constitution " lay to windward of 
the two ships and about two hundred and fifty yards 
away, with the " Cyane " on the port quarter and the 
" Levant " on the port bow. 

Stewart now opened fire on them both, they actively 
replying, and the batteries of the three ships were kept 
hotly in play for the next fifteen minutes, by which 
time the smoke had grown so dense around them that 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 255 

the fire of the " Constitution " was stopped in order to 
learn the position of the ships. It was found that the 
" Constitution " had forged ahead and now lay directly 
opposite the " Levant." This had thrown the " Cyane " 
out of range of her guns and given her more sea-room, 
and she was seen to be on the point of luffing up across 
the " Constitution's " stern. 

There followed an example of brilliant ocean tactics 
rarely witnessed in the midst of a battle. Greeting the 
" Levant " with a staggering broadside, Stewart threw 
the sails of his main and mizzen-masts flat aback and 
braced in his foresails till they just fluttered in the 
breeze, the effect being to drive the frigate sternward 
across the bow of the luffing " Cyane " and forcing 
her to fill away. A broadside greeted her as she did 
so, and keeping the two ships side by side Stewart 
poured his missiles so fiercely into her that the men 
were driven from their guns and their fire almost 
ceased. 

At 6.35 a new example of Captain Stewart's splendid 
seamanship was shown. The " Levant," lying in ad- 
vance and out of the line of fire, began to luff up in 
order to rake the American frigate. But Stewart was 
not to be caught napping. As she sailed up to cross his 
bows he filled his sails, put up his helm, and, running 
forward, crossed under the " Levant's " stern, raking her 
as he passed, and so fully taking the fight out of her 
that she gave up the contest for the time being and ran 
away. 

The " Cyane " at the same time was wearing round 
before the wind as If to escape also, but Stewart put his 
ship on her track and, crossing her stern, raked her as 
he had done the " Levant." For a few minutes more an 
exchange of shots took place, and then, as the " Consti- 



256 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

tution " ranged up beside her in position for a full 
broadside, down came her flag. The fight, so far, had 
lasted just forty minutes. Sending a prize crew on 
board to take possession, Stewart put his ship in chase 
of the " Levant " and had not gone far before he was 
surprised to see her coming back. Her captain was 
evidently not the man to desert a friend in an 
emergency. 

They came together at 8.50, just two hours after the 
surrender of the " Cyane," and broadsides were ex- 
changed. Satisfied now that his friend had fallen and 
that all hope of victory was gone, Captain Douglas 
made a vigorous effort to escape. It was too late, the 
" Constitution " was quickly on the track of the fleeing 
ship, and at 9.30 was reaching her with its bow-chas- 
ers. The gallant Douglas had done his best, flight and 
fight had become alike hopeless, and down came his 
flag. The double battle was won. 

Thus closed, with victory for the Americans, the last 
battle of the second war with Great Britain. As the 
" Constitution " had won in the first important naval 
contest, so she had won in the last. The British loss 
in the battle was forty-one killed and wounded ; the 
American loss was fifteen — three killed and twelve 
wounded. 

Some interesting anecdotes are told of events that 
followed the battle. While the British captains were 
with Stewart in the cabin of his ship a midshipman 
came in to ask if the men could have their evening 
grog. As the time for it had passed before the battle 
begun Captain Stewart asked if they had not had it 
already. The midshipman replied, much to the sur- 
prise of the Englishmen : 

" No, sir. It was mixed ready for serving, but the 



i 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 257 

older sailors of the crew said they did not want any 
' Dutch courage ' on board and capsized the grog-tub 
into the lee scuppers." 

Later on the two British captains got into a hot argu- 
ment, each claiming that the loss of the battle was due 
to false movements made by the other, Stewart 
stopped the quarrel by saying: 

" Gentlemen, there is no use in getting warm about 
it. It would have been all the same whatever you 
might have done. If you doubt that I will put you all 
on board again, and you can try it over." 

There was a sequel to this battle of much importance, 
that must now be told — one in which Captain Stewart 
again showed that he was an expert in the art of hand- 
ling a ship. On the loth of March the " Constitution " 
and her two prizes put into the harbor of Porto Praya, 
in the Cape de Verde Islands. The next day, while the 
Americans were busy in transferring their prisoners 
to a merchant brig to be used as a cartel and a thick 
fog lay low over the water, a large sail was seen from 
the deck entering the harbor. There had been no look- 
out aloft and the Americans were caught napping. 

Soon after two other large sails were visible above 
the fog and it was evident that three frigates were 
coming in. That they were English there was no 
doubt and it looked as if Stewart and his prizes were 
caught in a trap ; but he proved equal to the emergency. 
Signalling to his prizes to follow he cut his cable and 
so well-trained were his men that within ten minutes 
from the time the first sail had been seen the " Consti- 
tution " and her prizes were under sail and standing 
out of the harbor hugging the east side of the bay, 
while the new-comers were entering from the south. 
They had shown no canvas higher than their top-sails, 
17 



258 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

so that nothing of them was visible above the fog, 
and though the British prisoners that had been landed 
began firing signal guns from the batteries on shore, 
the incoming frigates saw no signs of an enemy. 

Not until the north point of the harbor had been 
cleared and the open sea reached were any higher sails 
set, and then the look-outs in the British tops were as- 
tonished to see a spread of canvas suddenly appear 
above the fog. In all haste, the frigates — the " New- 
castle," " Leander," and " Acasta," late of the Boston 
blockade — put themselves on the track of the fugitives, 
but the latter got a fair start and the " Constitution " 
soon proved herself the better sailer. The two prizes, 
however, were in danger, especially the " Cyane." 

Noting this, Stewart signalled to the " Cyane " to 
change her course, the result being that she got clear 
away, the pursuers keeping on the track of the other 
two. Later on, seeing that the " Levant " was in simi- 
lar danger of capture, Stewart signalled to her to tack. 
To his astonishment all the British frigates did the 
same, chasing the little sloop-of-war while the " Consti- 
tution " was left to sail away free. In some way they 
had come to think her the principal craft. The end of 
the affair was that the " Levant " was chased by her 
three big pursuers back into Porto Praya harbor, where 
they fired at her for fifteen minutes without a single 
shot hitting her hull. Then Lieutenant Ballard, who 
commanded her, hauled down his flag. It is said that 
Sir George Collier, who commanded this squadron, 
committed suicide ten years later, because his utter 
failure in this affair was thrown into his face at a public 
meeting. 

The " Cyane " reached New York April loth, but it 
was May before the " Constitution " came into Boston 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 259 

harbor, and captain and crew first teamed that the war 
had long been over. But the victory they had v^^on 
made them the heroes of the period. The people gave 
Stewart the title of honor long before bestowed on 
his ship, that of " Old Ironsides," while honors were 
bestowed upon him by Congress and the legislatures of 
Pennsylvania and New York, 

The remainder of his life was a quiet one. From 
1816 to 1820 he commanded the Mediterranean squad- 
ron, and until 1824 that of the Pacific, where he com- 
pelled the annulment of a paper blockade that inter- 
fered with American commerce. He was a naval com- 
missioner, 1830-32, and in charge of the Philadelphia 
Navy Yard 1838-41, 1846, and 1854-61. Promoted 
senior commodore in 1856, he was made rear admiral 
on the retired list in 1862. The remainder of his life 
was spent on his country-seat at Bordentown, New 
Jersey, where he died November 6, 1869. 

We cannot close this chapter without some parting 
words about the " Constitution," — the" Old Ironsides," 
in popular phrase. No other vessel in our navy has 
had so glorious a history. In her brilliant career she 
had captured three frigates and a sloop-of-war, seven 
times ran a blockade, twice made remarkable escapes 
from squadrons, never lost a commander, and never 
had more than nine men lost in any engagement. 

The time came when decay seized upon her timbers, 
and she was about to be broken up, when she was 
saved by Oliver Wendell Holmes by the aid of a stir- 
ring poem. In our own day danger has again threat- 
ened her aged timbers, but patriotic sentiment has 
come to the rescue and she is to be restored in her 
original lines. We may fitly close this chapter with 
the poem mentioned. 



26o HEROES OF THE NAVY 



OLD IRONSIDES. 

Ay! tear her tattered ensign down; 

Long has it waved on high, 
And many an eye has danced to see 

That banner in the sky ; 
Beneath it rang the battle's shout 

And burst the cannon's roar ; 
The meteor of the ocean air 

Shall sweep the clouds no more. 

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, 

Where knelt the vanquished foe, 
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood 

And waves were white below. 
No more shall feel the victor's tread, 

Or know the conquered knee ; 
The harpies of the shore shall pluck 

The eagle of the sea. 

O, better that her shattered hulk 

Should sink beneath the wave ; 
Her thunders shook the mighty deep, 

And there should be her grave; 
Nail to the mast her holy flag, 

Set every threadbare sail, 
And give her to the god of storms. 

The lightning and the gale. 



MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY AND THE 
OPENING OF JAPAN TO THE WORLD 

There are heroes of peace as well as heroes of war, 
even in the naval service, victories won without can- 
non shot or battle yell, and one of the most signal of 
these in our history was the opening to the world of the 
long-locked empire of Japan. This was achieved only 
through a resolute effort of the type of that which wins 
battles, and the man to whom it was due is worthy of 
our admiration. 

Matthew Calbraith Perry, the hero of this famous 
exploit, was a younger brother of Oliver H. Perry, of 
Lake Erie fame, being born at South Kingston, Rhode 
Island, April loth, 1794. He was admitted, through his 
father's influence, in 1809 as a midshipman in the navy, 
and was assigned to the schooner " Revenge." In 1810 
he was transferred to the frigate " President," and in 
181 3 was commissioned lieutenant and ordered to the 
" United States." This was after the one great feat 
of this frigate, the capture of the " Macedonian," and 
Perry had no opportunity to make his mark in that war, 
his ship being held in close blockade in New London 
during its later years. When Decatur left the " United 
States " for the " President " in 1814 Perry went with 
him, but in the same year he was transferred to the 
" Chippewa," and was not in the " President " when 
it was captured by a British squadron. 

The war ended, Perry served in the Brooklyn Navy 
Yard till 1819, in which year he sailed as executive offi- 
cer of the ship " Cyane " to Africa, the purpose of the 

261 



262 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

expedition being to found a free negro colony on 
Sherbro Island, under the auspices of the American 
Colonization Society. This locality was found to be so 
unhealthful that he selected a district on the coast to 
replace it, and was thus instrumental in founding the 
colony of Liberia, now an African republic. In 1821 
he took part in the schooner " Shark " in that series of 
conflicts with the West India freebooters in which his 
brother had died two years before. 

In the following years he was variously engaged on 
sea and land, and received several grades of promotion, 
but did not reach the rank of captain till 1837. While 
on recruiting service in Boston (1826-30) he founded 
the first naval apprenticeship system in the United 
States. In the latter year, in command of the corvette 
" Concord," he conveyed John Randolph, as American 
Minister, to St. Petersburg, this being the first Ameri- 
can man-of-war to enter Russian waters. A high rank 
in the Russian Navy was offered him, but he declined 
to leave the service of his native country and returned 
to the United States. 

For several years afterwards he was kept on duty 
at Brooklyn Navy Yard, as superintendent of the 
school of gun practice at Sandy Hook, and in studying 
the tides on the coast. He also aided in founding the 
" Naval Magazine." An important innovation in the 
navy during this period was the substitution of steam 
for the sail as a motive power. In this Perry was 
greatly interested, and he commanded the first steam 
war vessel of the United States, the " Fulton II," from 
1838 to 1840. 

Promoted commodore in 1841, the command of the 
South Sea Expedition was offered to Perry, but de- 
clined by him. Subsequently he introduced the Fresnel 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 263 

light at Navesink lighthouse, planned the construction 
of the " Missouri " and the " Mississippi," the first 
steam frigates in the United States Navy, and com- 
manded the squadron sent to Africa for the abolishment 
of the slave-trade, as provided for in the Ashburton 
treaty. 

It will be seen from the above list of achievements 
tliat, though Perry had no opportunity to distinguish 
himself in war, he was kept reasonably busy in affairs 
pertaining to peace, and was a man prompt to promote 
the introduction of new ideas. Not until 1846, when 
war broke out between the United States and Mexico, 
was the American Navy called upon for hostile action, 
and as Mexico possessed no navy its service was con- 
fined to the bombardment of Vera Cruz and attacks on 
points of minor importance, none of them calling for 
heroic effort. 

One of the latter was conducted by Perry, who com- 
manded the steam frigate " Mississippi," and on Oc- 
tober 17th was directed by Commodore Conner to pro- 
ceed against Frontera, an important point at the mouth 
of the river that separates Yucatan from Mexico 
proper. Perry had with him a number of smaller ves- 
sels, suitable for river work, and with the steamer 
" Vixen " and two schooners he dashed over the bar at 
the river's mouth, taking the Mexicans by surprise and 
quickly capturing the shipping that lay there, with the 
fort and the town. He then proceeded with two ves- 
sels to the city of Tabasco, seventy-two miles up- 
stream, and captured it with three shots. In this easy 
manner Yucatan was cut off from Mexico during the 
war. 

Meanwhile Conner was preparing to support General 
Scott's expedition against Vera Cruz, and on March 



264. HEROES OF THE NAVY 

10th, 1847, began the bombardment of that city. On 
the 2 1 St Perry reheved Conner — who had completed his 
term of service in that section — and continued the 
bombardment for a few days more. It ended on the 
25th, the firing ceasing at the request of the Mexicans. 
On the 28th the city surrendered and the work of the 
navy in that war was practically at an end. It was a 
conflict that offered some chance for distinction on 
land, but none on the sea, and the navy and its officers 
had no opportunity to shine. 

We now come to the story of the exploit that gave 
his great reputation to Matthew Calbraith Perry — the 
opening of Japan. For several centuries that island 
empire had been rigidly closed against intercourse with 
the western world. The missionaries of the various 
sects had brought about this policy by their squabbles 
and their interference in political matters, the result 
being a prohibition of all intercourse with Japan except 
a fragmentary commercial one with the Dutch, who 
were allowed to send a trading ship to the port of 
Nagasaki once a year. Once a year also some of the 
Dutch emissaries at this port were permitted to visit 
the capital, where they had to crawl up to the throne 
of the ruler on their hands and knees and crawl out 
again in the same degrading fashion. In this way 
the Japanese got a few European goods and learned all 
they cared to know about what w^as going on in the 
world, while learning also to despise their visitors. 

This was a state of affairs that could not well con- 
tinue indefinitely. Commerce in the Pacific grew rap- 
idly in the nineteenth century. China was forced to 
open some of her ports, and the rigid seclusion of Japan 
grew more and more annoying to the western nations. 
The Russians, near neighbors to Japan from their 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 265 

Siberian seaports, tried to gain entrance to the empire, 
but utterly failed. One of their captains who ventured 
to land was seized, and for a year or two kept in close 
captivity. Even sailors whose vessels were wrecked on 
the coast were held as prisoners, and it took much trou- 
ble to obtain their release. On the other hand, when 
Japanese were wrecked on the shores of Siberia and 
sent home after excellent treatment, no thanks were 
returned. The authorities regarded them as having lost 
citizenship in Japan. As may be seen, the system was 
one of the utmost rigidity. The Japanese were deter- 
mined to have nothing to do with foreigners. 

It was America that induced them to change their 
minds, and it took a man of the force and firmness of 
Commodore Perry to bring about this change. He was 
not the first to make the attempt. In 1831 President 
Jackson sent a man to the far East to see what could be 
done in the way of promoting American commerce in 
that region. In 1845 Commodore Biddle was sent with 
two Avar vessels to see if a treaty could be made with 
Japan. His mission utterly failed, the treatment given 
him amounting to a gross insult. But the Government 
of the United States had decided that the seclusion 
of Japan must come to an end, and in 1852 Commodore 
Perry was selected for this delicate and difficult mis- 
sion, one needing no small amount of judgment, energy 
and dignity of demeanor. Perry proved himself ad- 
mirably adapted to the task. 

Leaving Norfolk on March 24th in the steamer 
" Mississippi." it was April 6th of the next year (1853) 
before he reached Hongkong, on the Chinese coast. 
Here lay a squadron consisting of the steamer " Sus- 
quehanna " and the ships " Saratoga " and " Plym- 
outh." These he added to the expedition, taking the 



•266 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

" Susquehanna " for his flagship, and oh the 8th of 
July entered the Bay of Yedo. on whose hquid surface 
no steam vessel had ever before been seen. 

A mist lay heavy upon the waters as the great ves- 
sels rounded the cape in the early morning and entered 
the long-sealed bay ; but it rose before a warm sun as 
they glided onward between green banks and amid a 
swarm of junks and fishing boats, coming and going. 
It was with astonishment and alarm that the boatmen 
gazed upon these strange craft, moving up the water 
without sails, churning it into a foam with their great 
side wheels, and towing the frigates behind them as 
though they were small ship's boats. It looked like the 
work of magic to their imaccustomed eyes. 

Coming well up into the bay, the ships dropped an- 
chor and lay there as if they had come to stay, much 
to the discomposure of the authorities on shore, who 
had a better idea of what this meant than the ignorant 
natives. Scarcely had the anchors been dropped than 
several gims were fired from a neighboring point and 
a number of boats put off from shore, bearing petty 
officials, their purpose being to warn off these insolent 
interlopers. But not a man of them was allowed on 
board, those that sought to climb the sides being forced 
back at the bayonet's point. An interpreter on board 
gave them to understand that no one not of the highest 
rank would be received on the vessel's deck. Mean- 
while all the ships had been put in battle order, in case 
an attack should be made. Conunodore Perry knew 
that he had a difficult task before him, and was de- 
termined not to deal with the small fry of officialdom. 

This resolute behavior of the Americans had its ef- 
fect. There now came out a personage who was evi- 
dently of considerable note and who proved to be the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 267 

vice-governor of the district. After some parleying 
he was allowed to come on deck, though given to un- 
derstand that he was not of importance enough to deal 
with any officer but one of low rank, a lieutenant being 
assigned to meet him. He bore an order for the ships 
to leave the harbor immediately, saying that no for- 
eigners could be dealt with except at Nagasaki, where 
the Dutch had their trading station. 

Lieutenant Contee replied that such a proposition 
was disrespectful, if not insulting, that they had come 
with a message from the President of the United 
States to the ruler of Japan, and that it would be de- 
livered only to an official of the highest rank and at 
the point near the capital where the squadron now 
lay. He then said indignantly that he considered the 
guard boats around the vessels as an insult, and that 
if they did not go away they would be driven away — 
with cannon if necessary. The vice-governor at once 
ordered the boats away. He was given to understand 
that if the governor did not accept the message the 
ships would go up the bay to the capital and deliver it 
to the Shogun directly. 

The vice-governor made two visits, it being on the 
second that he declared the letter could be received 
only at Nagasaki. The resolute bearing of the Ameri- 
cans caused him to retire in a state of great agitation 
to consult with those higher in authority. That night 
watch-fires blazed on the shore and the watch-boats 
kept on the water, though at a respectful distance from 
the ships. The next morning the governor of the 
district came on board. Commodore Perry would not 
see him, but deputed two captains to meet him. they 
giving him to understand that he was too low in rank 
to meet the deputy of the American President. 



268 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

By this time the Japanese were thoroughly impressed 
with the dignity of their visitors, whom they found 
to be of very different cahbre from the Dutch traders. 
After a long parley the governor consented to receive 
the letter, but insisted that the answer must be sent to 
Nagasaki. He was given to understand that the an- 
swer would be accepted only where they lay. And, 
finding that the governor used different terms when 
speaking of the Shogun and the President, it was de- 
manded that he should use the same term for each 
ruler. This brought from him an apology. 

He finally, finding the Americans unyielding, said he 
would have to appeal to the throne for instructions, 
and that it would take four days to get a reply. As 
the capital was only a few hours away such a delay 
seemed unnecessary, and three days was all the cap- 
tains would agree to. 

" I will wait until Tuesday, the 12th of July, and 
no longer," was Commodore Perry's ultimatum, and 
the governor was told that if an answer did not come 
in three days the ships would move up to Yedo and 
the American commodore would go ashore there and 
call at the palace for the Shogim's answer. This set- 
tled the matter. The determination of the Americans 
was too much for the governor, and he yielded to their 
demands. 

In illustration of the Japanese character and their 
eager thirst for information, it may be said that three 
men accompanied the governor in the capacity of re- 
porters, who carefully noted all that was said, asked 
many questions themselves, peered about the ship and 
made abundant notes of all they saw of interest. It 
was the first example seen of that spirit of investiga- 
tion which the Japanese have since so abundantly 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 269 

shown and which has had so much to do witli their 
remarkable progress. 

During the three days of waiting the Americans 
were not idle, but showed a similar spirit of investiga- 
tion. Boat parties were sent four miles up the bay, 
with orders to sound and examine its waters. The 
governor protested that this was against the laws of 
Japan. He was answered that it was in accordance 
with the laws of America, and the soimilings went on. 
On the second day the " Mississippi " steamed up the 
bay after the boats. This act increased the agitation on 
shore. At the end of the three days word came that the 
Shogim would send a high officer to receive the letter. 
It would not be answered immediately, but an answer 
would be returned in due time through the Dutch or 
the Chinese. Th.o conunodore rejected this as insult- 
ing, and said that he would come for the answer him- 
self, after a proper time had elapsed. 

The reception of the letter took place two days later 
and was an occasion of much ceremoi^y. The commo- 
dore went ashore in his barge, attended by fourteen 
boats, carrying guards of honor, the advance boat 
being accompanied by two otliers containing the gov- 
ernor and vice-governor of Uraga. A band of music 
accompanied and a thirteen-gun salute roared out 
from the ships' sides. On shore a guard of four hun- 
dred marines and sailors lined up to receive the com- 
modore, who was borne by Chinese carriers in a sedan- 
chair to the building provided for the occasion. Two 
negroes, selected for their size and dignity of bearing, 
carried the box containing the letter of the President 
and the credentials of the commodore, which were in- 
closed in gold-mounted cases. Two otiiers in gorgeous 
uniform tlanked die sedan-chair of the commodore. 



270 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

No special ceremony marked the reception of the 
documents. The Princes of Idsu and Iwami, splen- 
didly attired, were present as the envoys of the Sho- 
gun, and the letter in its case was placed in a large 
scarlet-lacquered box. a formal receipt being given. 
The affair ended with the following words on the 
part of the princes: 

" Because this place is not designed to treat of any- 
thing with foreigners, so neither can conference nor 
entertainment take place. The letter being received, 
you will leave here." 

" I shall return again, probably in April or May, for 
an answer," said the commodore. 

"With all the ships?" 

" Yes, and probably with more." 

Perry, however, took steps to show that he did not 
propose to be ordered away. On returning to the 
" Susquehanna," he proceeded up the bay to the point 
where the " Mississippi " lay. Here anchor was 
dropped, the spot being later known as the " American 
anchorage." The next day the " Mississippi " was sent 
ten miles higher up, to a point within eight or ten miles 
of the capital and from which the crowded shipping 
at its lower end could be seen. Having thus demon- 
strated that he did not intend to go until he was 
ready, he turned back and on the following day left 
the bay, much to the relief of the islanders. 

Shortly after his departure news was received of 
the death of the Shogun, the great military chief who 
then ruled Japan in place of the Emperor. Perry ac- 
cordingly deferred his return until the next year, en- 
tering the Bay of Yedo again on February 12, 1854. 
He had now with him three steamers, the " Susque- 
hanna," " Mississippi," and " Powhatan," with the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 271 

sailing vessels " Lexington," " Vandalia," and " Mace- 
donian " in tow. 

A question now arose as to where the reply should 
be received. The Japanese wished it to be at a point 
far down the bay. Perry insisted on going- up the 
bay to the capital, and sent up his boats to sound the 
channel. Finally a point was chosen nine miles from 
the city, opposite the village of Yokohama — now the 
site of the large city of this name. Here receptions 
were held on the 8th and the 13th of March, the reply 
being given at the first, the presents which the Ameri- 
cans had brought at the second. These consisted of 
agricultural implements, rolls of cloth, firearms, and 
other articles, the most valuable being a small locomo- 
tive and car, which ran on a circular track set up for 
the purpose. What most astonished and interested the 
Japanese was a mile of telegraph wire, set up so that 
messages could be sent. The proud islanders took 
good care, however, to show no signs of surprise. 

The important feature in all this was the reply of 
the Shogun — the Tycoon, as the Americans at that 
time understood his title to be. This admitted that the 
demands relating to the return of shipwrecked sailors, 
the supplying of coal, water, provisions, etc., were just, 
and also agreed to open another harbor besides that 
of Nagasaki, but asked for five years' delay before 
this was done. The commodore declared that he would 
not consent to this long and needless delay, nor that 
Americans should be put tmder the same severe re- 
strictions as the Dutch and Chinese. He demanded 
three harbors, but finally consented to two — Simondo in 
Hondo Island, and Hakodate in Yezo. 

The ceremony over and three copies of the important 
treaties formally exchanged, Commodore Perry re- 



272 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

laxed the severe dignity he had so far maintained. A 
dinner was given on his flagship to the Japanese princes 
and officials which they highly enjoyed. What they 
particularly approved of was the champagne, under the 
influence of which one little fellow grew so hilarious 
that he sprang up and embraced the commodore like a 
brother, an affliction wdiich Perry bore with good- 
humored patience. 

He had reason to be good-humored, for he had won 
the greatest victory ever gained by an American ship, 
a moral victory which in its results changed the whole 
aspect of the eastern world. In fact, Japan, though 
not yet aware of it, had thrown down the wall of 
seclusion behind which it had so long dwelt. At the 
new treaty ports Americans were given far more free- 
dom of movement than had ever been accorded at 
Nagasaki, and not many years elapsed before the other 
commercial nations obtained treaties and the scope 
of that given America was extended, tlie port of Yoko- 
hama, where Perry's treaty had been received, being 
made a treaty port instead of Simondo. Since then 
Japan has grown to be one of the great nations of the 
world and dates its emancipation from old ideas to 
the visit of Commodore Perry, whom it reveres as one 
of the great men of the world and practically the 
father of the new Japan. 

The hero of the opening of Japan did not long sur- 
vive the date of his great achievement, living barely 
long enough to see its first results, and dying in New 
York city Alarch 4. 1858. A bronze statue to his 
memory has been erected by Mr. and Airs. August Bel- 
mont, in Truro Park, Newport, and Japan has accorded 
him a siJOiilar honor, at the scene of his great achieve- 
ment. 



DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT, AMERICA'S 
FIRST GREAT ADMIRAL 

David G. Farragut, whose name stands high on the 
roll of naval heroes alike of America and of the world, 
was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, July 5, 1801. the 
son of a Spanish gentleman of Minorca, who had 
emigrated to the United States and fought in the 
Revolution and the War of 18 12. When seven years 
of age young Farragut was adopted by Captain David 
Porter, to wdiose father Mr. Farragut had rendered an 
important service, and he gained his first naval experi- 
ence under that able commander. Entering the navy 
in 1810, at the remarkably early age of nine, his war 
experience began in 1812, when eleven years of age, 
he being a midshipman in the " Essex " throughout 
the war that followed. He kept a journal while on this 
ship, and we owe to him various interesting details of 
its career. 

To him we are indebted for the stories of the 
adventure with the " Minerva " and the capture of 
the "Alert," also the prevention of the taking of the 
" Essex " by the British prisoners on board. These 
incidents we have given in the sketch of Commodore 
Porter. He wrote down also many interesting bits of 
description of the adventures of the " Essex " in the 
Pacific, during which he was made captain of a prize- 
crew when only twelve years of age. This was on 
the British whaler " Barclay," which was ordered to 
proceed to Valparaiso under convoy of the " Essex 
Junior." 

18 273 



274 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The British captain of the '* Barclay " had agreed 
to act as navigator, hut for some reason he was angry 
at the order to go to Valparaiso, and refused to follow 
the " Essex Junior." saying " that he would shoot any 
man who dared to touch a rope without his orders." 
He then w'ent below in a rage to get his pistols. 

Farragut, young as he was, was not daunted by this 
action. He ordered an able seaman to have the main- 
sail filled away, and then called to the captain " not to 
come on deck unless he wished to be thrown over- 
board." The boy's voice must have been very resolute, 
for the captain stayed below^ Farragut then reported 
the affair to the commander of the " Essex Junior," 
and in the end the Briton agreed to submit to him as 
captain. Not many boys of twelve would have han- 
dled such a situation with such firm decision, and the 
character of the man was well outlined in this action 
of the boy. 

Farragut's journal gives many graphic details of the 
final fight and capture of the " Essex," of his share in 
which he says, " I performed the duties of captain's 
aid, quarter-gunner, powder-boy. and. in fact, did 
everything that was required of me." He tells of being 
sent below for some gun-primers, during which, while 
going down the ward-room ladder, the captain of the 
gun directly opposite was struck in the face by an 
eighteen-pound shot and fell back on him. They 
tumbled down the hatch together, he narrowly escap- 
ing being crushed by the weight of a two-hundred 
pound corpse. He continues : 

" I lay for some moments stunned by the blow, but 
soon recovered consciousness enough to rush up on 
deck. The captain, seeing me covered with blood, 
asked if I was wounded, to which I replied : * I believe 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 



2/5 



not, sir.' 'Then,' said he, 'where are the primers?' 
This first brought me completely to my senses, and I 
ran below again and carried the primers on deck. 
When I came up the second time 1 saw the captain 
fall, and in my turn ran up and asked if he was 
woimded. He answered me almost in the same words, 
' I believe not, my son ; but I felt a blow on the top of 
my head.' He must have been knocked down by the 
windage of a passing shot, as his hat was somewhat 
damaged." 

With Farragut's later career, until the opening of 
the Civil War, we must deal more rapidly. Taken 
prisoner with the captain and crew of the '* Essex," he 
was soon released and spent the next year or two at 
school in Chester, Pennsylvania, where Captain Porter 
resided. The years that followed were passed partly 
in naval duty and partly in school. In 1820. when on 
his way home from Italy in the merchant ship " Amer- 
ica," they were chased by a supposed pirate, whereupon 
he promptly took command and prepared for defence. 
In 1822 he was in command of the " Greyhound " in 
Porter's operations against the West Indian pirates, 
and in 1825 was a lieutenant on the frigate " Brandy- 
wine," under Captain Morris, when it took Lafayette 
home to France. 

During the following years he was variously engaged 
on sea and shore, being in 1833 sent to Charleston har- 
bor during the nullification troubles, at the same time 
that General Scott was sent there in a military capacity. 
Farragut was for some years on duty at the Norfolk 
Navy Yard, served at intervals on the " Boxer," the 
" Constellation," and the " Eric," and in 1841 was pro- 
moted commander and assigned to the " Delaware " 
and subsequently to the sloop-of-war " Decatur." He 



276 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

was ordered to duty during the Mexican war, but un- 
avoidable delays prevented his getting there in time to 
take part in the naval operations, and all that came to 
him in that region was an attack of yellow fever. Ap- 
pointed commander of the navy yard at Mare Island, 
California, in 1854, he was promoted captain in 1855, 
commanded the " Brooklyn " from 1858 to i860, and in 
1861, on the outbreak of the Civil War, was at home 
on waiting orders. Up to this date he had had no op- 
portunity to make his mark as a fighting son of the sea. 
The opportunity was now at hand. 

A man of southern birth and making his home at 
Norfolk, Virginia, an earnest effort was made to get 
him to support the Confederate cause. But he was not 
of the type of localized Americans, and though he 
was deeply concerned about the coming war, when the 
time for action came he let it be plainly known that 
he proposed to stay by the old flag under which he 
had fought for fifty years. This open statement 
brought about a change of attitude in his neighbors, 
and he was told that his views were out of place in 
the atmosphere of Norfolk. " Very well," he calmly 
replied ; " then I will go somewhere else." There is 
also a legendary statement that he said : '' Mind what I 
tell you — you fellows will catch the devil before you 
get through with this business." Removing to a resi- 
dence on the Hudson, he reported himself " ready for 
duty," and awaited a call from the Government. It 
came early in 1862. 

David D. Porter, son of the old commodore, was 
on blockade duty oflf the Mississippi in the summer 
of 1861, and conceived the idea that the river could be 
forced and New Orleans taken. This idea was accepted 
at Washington, but Porter was too low in rank to 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 277 

command such an expedition, and was asked to name 
a suitable captain. He named Farrag^ut, his old home 
companion and brother by adoption, and the suggestion 
was acted upon. 

The offer of leadership in this important enterprise 
was eagerly accepted by Farragut, whose long experi- 
ence in naval affairs thoroughly adapted him to it, and 
on February 2d, 1862, he sailed from Hampton Roads 
in the steamer " Hartford," arriving at Ship Island, in 
the Gulf, on the 20th. Here he gathered a fleet con- 
sisting of eight men-of-war and nine gunboats of two 
guns each. In addition there were twenty mortar 
schooners with six gunboats to protect them, these 
being put under Porter's command. 

Farragut had a difficult task before him. Two 
strong forts, Jackson and St. Philip, had been built 
beside the river, about seventy miles below New Or- 
leans, at a place where the stream made a sharp bend. 
They were made more formidable by a barrier chain 
stretched across the river from side to side. In addi- 
tion the river was defended' by eleven armed steamers 
and an iron-clad floating battery, the " Louisiana," 
which, fortunately for Farragut, was not sufficiently 
completed to use its steam power and was moored 
near the forts. The most effective floating defence was 
the ram " Manassas," which had created a panic in the 
blockading squadron some months before. Fire-boats 
were also prepared, and the Confederates rested in full 
confidence of victory in the event of an attack. 

To attack so formidable a series of defences by a 
fleet of wooden vessels was indeed a perilous enter- 
prise, but Farragut was not the man to hesitate or 
weigh possibilities too closely. He took every precau- 
tion he could think of, however, including the drawing 



278 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

of chain cables down the sides of the ships as a par- 
tial protection and piling bags of coal, sand, ashes, and 
other materials to secure the engines and boilers from 
danger. The rigging was stripped down to the top- 
masts, and here howitzers, protected by boiler iron, 
were planted on platforms. There were various other 
precautions, among them the lashing of leaf-covered 
branches to the masts of the mortar boats so that they 
could not be distinguished from the trees along the 
river banks. 

Such was the state of affairs on the morning of 
April i8th, 1862, when the mortar schooners, moored 
to the banks about two miles below Fort Jackson, 
opened fire from their mortars on this fort. Once 
every ten minutes each mortar was fired, and this was 
kept up incessantly for six days. Meanwhile the fleet 
had advanced nearer the forts, and on the night of 
the 20th the gunboat " Itasca " succeeded in breaking 
the barrier chain. While the mortar boats dropped 
their shells in a shower on Fort Jackson, occupying 
the attention of its garrison, two of the hulks that car- 
ried the chain were boarded, and it was found that the 
anchor chain of one of them could be slipped. This 
was done and the hulk drifted away, leaving the chain 
to sag down. Then the light craft " Itasca " was taken 
over the chain at a narrow opening, and, going some 
distance up stream, it came down under full steam, 
its speed aided by the strong current. The sagging 
chain was struck a vigorous head-on blow, the boat's 
bow lifted more than three feet out of the water, then 
the chain broke and down stream she came. The bar- 
rier was broken and the passage clear. 

On the 23d of April Farragut issued orders for an 
advance that night, and at two o'clock the next morn- 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 279 

ing- two red lanterns at the mizzen peak of the " Hart- 
ford " gave the welcome signal. "All hands up an- 
chor ! " was the cry, and by three o'clock all the vessels 
were under way, while Porter's mortars, firing as fast 
as they could be loaded, were dropping their fiery 
bombs in and around Fort Jackson in an almost un- 
broken stream. 

The enemy were on the alert, and as the " Cayuga " 
passed through the broken barrier at 3.30, followed 
closely by the great " Pensacola," a storm of flame and 
iron burst from the forts, while huge piles of wood 
heaped along the banks were fired, illuminating the 
stream. The Confederate steamers could be seen along 
the banks, and farther up the blaze of fire-ships was 
visible. In a few minutes the river was turned into a 
veritable inferno. The fleet quickly came abreast the 
forts, and its rapid broadsides, mingled with the deaf- 
ening explosions from the guns on shore, the bursting 
of the bombshells from Porter's boats, and the lurid 
blaze from the watch-fires, made up a scene of fiery 
terror rarely witnessed. 

Soon down came the blazing fire-rafts to add to 
the horrors of the conflict. The " Hartford " was 
caught by the first of these. She had grounded in the 
smoke and was trying to back oflf when the flaming 
barge came upon her and was pushed by the Confed- 
erate tug " Mosher " against her side. In an instant 
the paint on the ship's side was blazing, and the men 
at the guns drew back from the heat. 

" Don't flinch from that fire, boys ! " shouted Far- 
ragut ; " there's a hotter fire than that for those who 
don't do their duty." 

But as the flames soared higher and the good ship 
seemed doomed, even Farragut threw up his hands in a 



28o HEROES OF THE NAVY 

moment of despair and exclaimed : " My God ! is it to 
end in this way ? " 

The tug was meanwhile holding the raft against the 
" Hartford's " blazing side, but a half-dozen shells sent 
her reeling away, to sink with all on board. At the 
same time the nozzle of a fire-hose was turned on the 
flames, and the spurting water soon drowned them 
out. The " Hartford " was saved. 

" The passing of the forts Jackson and St. Philip 
was one of the most awful sights and events I ever saw 
or expect to experience," Farragut has said, and cer- 
tainly nothing like it has ever been seen elsewhere in 
American waters. Down came the Confederate fleet 
to mingle in the combat, the guns of St. Philip echoed 
those of Jackson, and the foremost vessels passed up- 
stream, the roar of guns from ship and shore being 
incessant and the smoke almost impenetrable. New 
fireships came downward in full blaze ; the ram " Man- 
assas " plunged through the fleet, doing what harm 
she could until driven ashore ; the iron-clad " Louisi- 
ana " poured broadsides at the passing vessels ; but by 
the time the sun rose all the forts had been passed, the 
Confederate boats were sunk except a few that had 
escaped, and the great river was clear. A splendid vic- 
tory had been won. The Confederate flag still floated 
above the two forts, but their doom was sealed. They 
surrendered on the 28th. At one o'clock in the after- 
noon of April 25th the fleet lay in triumph before New 
Orleans, and the fate of the Crescent City also was 
sealed. The losses in the desperate battle in the fleet 
had been only thirty-five killed and one hundred and 
twenty-eight wounded. 

In July Farragut was promoted to the rank of rear 
admiral. This was a new grade in the American navy, 



i 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 281 

first borne by him, the highest commission previously 
being that of captain. The title of commodore was 
given by courtesy only. Before this time the victor 
had passed up the river and attacked the batteries at 
Vicksburg, but found them to be impregnable from 
the level of the stream. He was subsequently engaged 
in the Gulf, where he captured a number of Texas ports, 
including Galveston and Corpus Christi, though Gal- 
veston was afterwards retaken by the Confederates. Or- 
dered in March, 1863, to cooperate with General Grant 
in his operations against Vicksburg, he attempted to 
pass the batteries at Port Hudson. Two of his vessels, 
the " Hartford " and " Albatross," which were lashed 
together, succeeded after a desperate struggle, but the 
others were disabled and dropped down the river. 
The " Mississippi " grounded and was burned to save 
her from capture. 

After the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, there 
was no further naval work needed in the Mississippi, 
and Farragut turned his attention to Mobile, a strongly 
defended Gulf port. As it happened, General Banks 
had taken all the troops that could be spared on the 
useless and costly Red River expedition, and for six 
months the admiral had to wait. He could get no sol- 
diers to aid in the attack or to hold the place when 
captured. During this enforced delay, the Confeder- 
ates were busily strengthening their works and had 
ample time to finish and bring down the iron-clad 
" Tennessee." They had also the opportunity to sow 
the channel thickly with torpedoes, leaving a pass one 
hundred yards wide for the blockade runners. It was 
August 4, 1864, before Farragut got the ships and 
troops he needed, and on the morning of the 5th he 
was ready to go in. 



■282 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The fleet he now possessed consisted of four mon- 
itors, of the type of the pioneer " Monitor " that had 
fought so notably in Hampton Roads. The wooden 
vessels, which had been prepared for the fight much 
as in the Mississippi, were fourteen in number, the 
" Hartford " being the flagship as before. At 5.30 the 
signal to move rose to her mast-head and by 6.10 the 
leading vessels were crossing the bar. The pass be- 
tween the torpedoes, marked by a red buoy, lay under 
the heaviest guns of Fort Morgan, but for it they 
headed, though many on board were sure that they 
were heading straight for the gateway of death. 

Mobile Bay is in shape like a great bell, thirty miles 
long and fifteen miles wide. At the mouth there are 
two islands, the channel between them being not more 
than a mile wide. On each island was a fort, built by 
the Government before the war, and then in Confed- 
erate hands. Fort Morgan mounted some thirty guns 
and Fort Gaines twenty-one. In the water near by 
nearly two hundred torpedoes had been planted, some 
made of beer-kegs and some of tin. In addition were 
three gunboats, of small account, and the powerful 
iron-clad " Tennessee," commanded by Franklin 
Buchanan, who had commanded the " Merrimac " in its 
great fight with the " Monitor." 

In went the Union ships, firing as they came near 
the fort, but not bringing a shot in reply. Not until the 
leading vessels were opposite Fort IMorgan was a shot 
fired, and then there came a veritable hell of flame and 
an ear-splitting roar. Fortunately for the fleet, the 
guns were not well aimed, and scarcely a ship was 
struck, while the return fire drove many of the men in 
tlie fort from their gims. 

At the head of the Union line was the monitor 




THE ADMIRAL LASHED TO THE KIGCING 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 283 

" Teciimseh," the captain of which, eager to reach the 
iron-clad " Tennessee," ventured to leave the channel 
marked by the red buoy and steer straight onward. It 
was a fatal movement. Suddenly her bow was lifted 
out of the water. She lurched heavily from side to 
side, and then went down head-first. She had struck 
one of the torpedoes. Of her whole crew only the 
pilot and a few men in the turret escaped. Captain 
Craven drew back to give the pilot the first chance and 
the heroic fellow went down with his ship. 

Farragut, meanwhile, had climbed to the main-top 
of the " Hartford " to be above the smoke. He saw 
the " Brooklyn," next in line to the " Tecumseh," halt 
and begin to back, throwing the whole line into con- 
fusion and holding the " Hartford " under the hottest 
fire of the fort until her gun-deck was turned into a 
slaughter pen. As he ranged up beside the " Brook- 
lyn " he angrily asked what was the matter. 

" Torpedoes," came the reply. 

" Damn the torpedoes ! Follow me," he yelled, and 
the bold admiral took the head of the column, rushing 
squarely into the torpedo nest. Their primers were 
heard snapping as they struck the ship's bottom, but 
by good fortune not one exploded. The '' Tecumseh " 
was their only victim. Captain Drayton, now seeing 
the admiral clinging to the shrouds under the main-top, 
sent up a sailor to fasten a cord from one shroud to an- 
other, to prevent his falling in case he was struck. To 
this extent the story is true that Farragut was lashed 
to the shrouds. 

The fort passed, the " Tennessee " remained to be 
dealt with. This powerful iron monster rushed 
through the Union fleet, doing little damage to any of 
them, but causing a rapid scattering. Then, when near 



284 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

the fort, she turned to come back. Breakfast was just 
being served to the men on the " Hartford " when the 
word was passed that she was coming, and the men 
ran hastily back to their guns. There was no hesita- 
tion on any of the ships. " Ram her ! " was the order, 
and ram her they did, the " Hartford " in the lead. 
But neither guns nor ramming bows did much dam- 
age, and the ships quickly became so crowded that the 
" Lackawanna " struck the " Hartford " by mistake, 
and narrowly missed sinking her and killing the ad- 
miral, who stood near the point where she was struck. 

Meanwhile the three remaining monitors were com- 
ing up at full speed to take the place of the wooden 
ships in the attack. This onslaught of three to one 
was more than the " Tennessee " could bear. Her 
smokestack was shot away, her bow and stern port 
shutters were jammed so that they could not be moved, 
her steering gear was carried off, and Admiral 
Buchanan was wovmded. The ship could not be 
steered nor the fire returned. She was in a helpless 
state and was being so frightfully battered that noth- 
ing remained but to haul down the flag. 

The fight was at an end, and ]\Iobile closed against 
blockade-runners. Fort Gaines was shelled and sur- 
rendered the next day. Fort Morgan was invested and 
shelled on the 22d, and surrendered on the 23d. Far- 
ragut's war record was at an end. His health demand- 
ing some relaxation, he sailed soon after for New York 
in the " Hartford," ship and commander alike now 
famous. He was warmly welcomed at New York, 
where a number of wealthy men testified their admira- 
tion in a gift of $50,000. The rank of vice-admiral, 
new to the United States, was created for him by 
Congress. This was not enousfh. The figure of the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 285 

brave commander in the rigging, fighting his ship above 
the smoke, amid a tempest of shot and shell, made 
him the idol of the American people, and on July 25, 
1866, Congress honored him with the special title of 
Admiral, as the highest rank they could confer. His 
services being no longer demanded, he retired to his 
home at Hastings-on-the-Hudson. In 1865, in com- 
mand of a squadron, he visited many European ports, 
receiving the highest courtesies from all nations. He 
returned in 186S, and died at Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, August 14, 1870. 



DAVID DIXON PORTER AND THE OPEN- 
ING OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

Commodore David Porter, of old " Essex " fame, 
left three sons of warlike proclivities, one of them, 
Theodore, being killed in the Mexican War, and the 
other two, David and William, taking prominent parts 
in the naval work of the Civil War. The most famous 
of these, David Dixon Porter, was born at Chester, 
Pennsylvania, on the 8th of June, 1813, in the height 
of his father's career. When eleven years of age he 
was on his father's ship in the cruise of the latter 
against the West Indian pirates, and two years later, 
when his father was in command of the Mexican navy, 
he was made a midshipman in the service of that 
young republic. 

The youthful officer served with credit in the war 
between Mexico and Spain, his duty in this field com- 
ing to an end when serving in Cuban waters in the 
" Guerrero " under his kinsman, David H. Porter. An 
attack was made on two warships that were convoying 
a merchant fleet, but the sound of the cannon brought 
up a large Spanish frigate, and after a desperate fight, 
in which Captain Porter and eighty men were killed, 
the " Guerrero " was forced to surrender. The four- 
teen-year-old midshipman was imprisoned for a time 
at Havana, but was soon released and made his way 
home. 

In 1829 he entered the United States Navy as a mid- 
shipman, and spent the following twelve years in the 
Mediterranean and on the Government Survey, no 
286 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 287 

events of note happening. Promoted lieutenant in 
1841, he served in the frigate " Congress " in Brazilian 
waters, and in 1845 was stationed at the Washington 
Observatory. In the Mexican War he took a spirited 
part in every action on the coast, being acting captain 
of the " Spitfire " in the fights at Tuxpam and Vera 
Cruz. After the war ended he returned to his former 
work on the coast survey, and being given a four 
years' furlough in 1849, engaged in outside duty as a 
commander of the California mail steamers from New 
York to the Isthmus. This service led to an interest- 
ing exploit in his career. The " Black Warrior " af- 
fair in Cuba induced the Spanish authorities to forbid 
entrance of American ships to Havana, and when Por- 
ter appeared at that port in the " Crescent City " and 
ran under the guns of Morro Castle he was ordered to 
halt and withdraw. His reply was characteristic of 
the man. 

" My ship carries the United States flag and the 
United States mail," he said, " and, by the Eternal, I 
will enter the harbor of Havana ! " 

Enter it he did, and not a gun was fired. His dar- 
ing and audacity had utterly dismayed the Spanish 
officials. 

At the outbreak of the Civil War Porter held the 
commission of commander in the navy, and was 
assigned to the steamer " Powhatan " and sent to the 
relief of Fort Pickens, at Pensacola. This and other 
work, including a long chase of the privateer " Sum- 
ter," was followed by a period of blockade duty off the 
Southwest Pass of the Mississippi in the summer of 
1861. This led to one of the greatest naval exploits 
of the war. Porter collected all the information he 
could about the river and its defences, gaining much 



288 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

useful information from the fishermen, and, conceiv- 
ing the idea that the river might be forced and New 
Orleans taken, went to Washington and laid the project 
before the Secretary of the Navy. The plan seemed 
feasible, but Porter was too low in rank to command 
so important an expedition and was asked whom he 
considered a suitable man. 

" David G. Farragut," was his reply, and Farragut 
was chosen. 

We need go no farther into the details of this fa- 
mous expedition, which has been sufficiently described 
in our sketch of Farragut. It has been told there that 
Porter's share of it was as commander of the mortar- 
boats, which he made to look like river-side trees by 
lashing green boughs around their masts. His share of 
the work was to bombard Fort Jackson, the nearer 
fort, and for six days the boats threw shells at the 
rate of one hundred and twenty an hour by day, and 
one-third this number by night. On an average about 
nineteen hundred shells were thrown each day. On 
the night of the attack shells were poured into the 
fort at such speed that they formed an almost un- 
broken fiery arch in the sky, rendering the working of 
the Confederate guns a source of the greatest danger. 

After passing the forts, Farragut left to Porter the 
details of their surrender, and while negotiations were 
going on under a flag of truce the iron-clad " Louis- 
iana " came drifting down on the fleet in a sheet of 
flame. She had been set on fire by her commander, 
but fortunately the flames reached the magazine and 
she blew up before any damage was done. 

The taking of New Orleans was followed by opera- 
tions under Farragut at Port Hudson and Vicksburg, 
but on October i, 1862, Porter was given the command 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 289 

of the Mississippi squadron, being promoted to the 
rank of rear admiral. This squadron consisted of a 
number of iron-clad gunboats, constructed by the fa- 
mous engineer, Captain James D. Eads, and several un- 
armored steamers. William D. Porter, an elder brother 
of Admiral Porter, had also been busy at this work 
and had converted a St. Louis ferry boat into one of the 
most formidable gunboats of the war, naming it after 
his father's old ship, the " Essex." This was the river 
fleet which, under Flag Officer Foote, greatly aided 
General Grant in the capture of Forts Henry and Don- 
elson. It then engaged in the capture of the forts on 
the upper Mississippi, the river being opened as far 
down as Vicksburg by July i, 1862. 

Admiral Porter's squadron consisted of a number 
of light-draft steamers covered with half-inch iron and 
known as tin-clads, and a class of heavy boats plated 
with two or three-inch iron, one of them having six- 
inch plating on the casement. These carried eleven- 
inch Dahlgren cannon. With this fleet he gave active 
aid in the operations against the formidable forts at 
Vicksburg and Port Hudson. 

In addition to the fleet above, there were several gun- 
boats below Vicksburg, Including the " Essex," under 
William D. Porter, while the Confederates had here 
a powerful iron-clad, the " Arkansas." The latter came 
to its end in early October, the " Essex " coming upon 
it while it lay helpless in the mud in which it had 
been stranded. As the crew could not move it, they 
set it on fire and escaped, the Confederacy thus losmg 
the strongest of its floating batteries. 

Admiral Porter began his operations against Vicks- 
burg in November, in a series of expeditions through 
the bavous of the Yazoo River country, with the 

19 



290 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

hope of turning the Confederate defences ; but these 
efforts ended in faikire, while the gunboat " Cairo " 
was destroyed by a torpedo. In early 1863 Porter 
sent Colonel Charles E. Ellet down past the Vicksburg 
batteries, in his ram, " Queen of the West." Delayed 
by defects in her steering gear, it was full day when 
the ram started, but Ellet, a fellow of infinite daring, 
stopped in the midst of his perilous journey to ram 
and set on fire a steamer beside the river, and then 
went on without losing a man. The " Indianola," an 
armored boat, was soon sent to join him. Misfortune 
attended this enterprise, the " Queen of the West " run- 
ning aground and the " Indianola *' being attacked by 
rams and sunk. 

An amusing event followed this disaster. The Con- 
federates, now in control of this section of the river, 
attempted to raise and repair the " Indianola," when, 
on the morning of February 26th, there was heard a 
furious cannonading at Vicksburg, and it was reported 
that a Union gunboat was running the batteries. A 
panic ensued. The four steamers around the " Indian- 
ola " took to flight, and the men on the wreck, which 
had been brought near shore, loaded its two big guns, 
set them muzzle to muzzle, and fired them to destroy 
them, then running away. It was a joke they did not 
relish when it was learned that the " gunboat " was a 
dummy which Porter's men had set adrift for a lark. 

Shortly after this, on March 14th, Farragut made 
his second trip up the river and ran past Port Hudson, 
holding this section of the stream while Porter sent 
down two of the Ellet rams to increase his force. 
About the same time another effort was made to get 
behind Vicksburg by way of the Yazoo bayous, ending 
in failure as before. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 291 

These futile efforts were followed by a more suc- 
cessful one, Porter taking the larger part of his fleet 
down past Vicksburg on the night of April i6th, in 
support of Grant's projected movement down the west 
side of the stream. A furious fire from the batteries 
gave peril to the movement, but beyond the sinking of 
one transport, the " Henry Clay," no serious damage 
was done. On the 29th the works at Grand Gulf were 
attacked, the fleet pounding at them all day. But the 
batteries lay seventy-five feet above the river and were 
not harmed, while the fleet lost seventy-four men in 
killed and wounded. On April 30th Grant crossed the 
river, and on May 3d Porter returned to the works at 
Grand Gulf, which he found to be evacuated. The 
surrender of Vicksburg on July 4th and the subsequent 
evacuation of Port Hudson opened the river to the 
Union forces through all its length. Porter had ren- 
dered the greatest assistance to General Grant, for 
which he received the warm thanks of that appreciative 
officer. Operations in that quarter would now have 
been at an end but for the useless expedition under 
General Banks, up the Red River, which was ordered 
in 1864, Shreveport, four hundred miles up the stream, 
being its destination. From a military point of view 
it amounted to nothing, but it came near proving seri- 
ous to Porter's fleet, which accompanied the expedi- 
tion, and reached Alexandria, above the rapids. There 
the greater part of it was caught by the fall of the wa- 
ter, ten gunboats and two tugs being left above the 
falls. For a time it seemed as if they would have 
to be abandoned, but they were saved by Joseph Bailey, 
an officer in a Wisconsin regiment, who had been a log- 
driver and knew how to deal with a jam. 

The rifts were a mile long, and the river at their 



292 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

head nearly eight hundred feet wide. Bailey's plan 
was to raise the river by building a dam, for which 
work he had the aid of two regiments of foresters from 
Maine. Eight days sufficed for the work, the water 
on the rifts being raised more than six feet by the 
dam. But just when success seemed sure two coal 
barges which had been sunk in the centre of the dam 
were carried out by the weight of the water, which 
rushed through the gap in a fierce torrent. At this 
moment the gunboat " Lexington " was at the head 
of the rifts, ready to follow the other boats that had 
gone down. Porter stood on the bank. He saw that 
the water level would quickly fall, and in a stentorian 
voice he shouted : 

" Go ahead ! " 

In a moment more the " Lexington " was speeding 
down the heaving waters, rolling heavily from side to 
side, and tossed wildly upon the leaping waves. Thou- 
sands watched her with stilled voices, but when she 
rushed out safely into the quiet waters below a mighty 
shout rent the air. 

Three others followed to safety, but by this time 
the water had fallen too much for the remainder to 
venture. By the expedient of building wing dams on 
the rifts above Bailey succeeded in raising the water 
sufficiently to float the others, and the entire fleet was 
saved. Joseph Bailey was the hero of this exploit, for 
which he received the thanks of Congress and promo- 
tion from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general. 

Later that year Admiral Porter was transferred 
from the Mississippi to the James River, and in Sep- 
tember was assigned to command the naval forces in 
the attack on Fort Fisher, at the entrance of Cape 
Fear River, North Carolina. General Butler, who 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 293 

commanded the land forces, proposed to explode a 
vessel, loaded with over two hundred tons of powder, 
within a few hundred yards of the fort, thinking that 
the concussion would cause so much damage that the 
stronghold could easily be taken. This was done on 
December 23, but the explosion left the fort unharmed. 
During the following two days the fleet bombarded 
the fort, but Butler failed to follow this up with a land 
assault, and the whole enterprise failed. 

In January, 1865, Porter was back again, accom- 
panied now by General Terry, with six thousand men. 
The fleet heavily bombarded the fort on the 13th and 
14th, and on the 15th the troops, assisted by a naval 
column, made a furious assault, carrying the fort and 
finally closing the port of Wilmington, which for 
years had been a chief source of supplies to the Con- 
federacy through the efforts of blockade runners. 

There is little more to say of Porter's connection 
with the war. Returning to the James River, he ac- 
companied President Lincoln to Richmond after its 
fall, penetrating the length of the river with his smaller 
gunboats. He thus practically opened and closed the 
naval war, having fired the first gun at Pensacola, April 
17th, 1861, and nearly the last near Richmond in 1865. 

Porter was given the rank of vice-admiral in 1866, 
and was superintendent of the Naval Academy for two 
years. After the death of Farragut, in 1870, he was 
raised to the rank of admiral, this high grade being 
abolished after his death, February 13, 1891, though it 
was later restored for Admiral Dewey. Porter was 
the author of several works, including a " Life of 
Commodore David Porter " and a " History of the 
Navy in the War of the Rebellion." 



WILLIAM BARKER GUSHING AND THE 
SINKING OF THE ''ALBEMARLE" 

As all our readers are probably aware, the practical 
use of iron-clad vessels in warfare began in the Ameri- 
can Civil War, the Federal authorities building a num- 
ber of vessels of the " Monitor " type that did good 
service, and iron-plating various river boats on the 
Mississippi ; the Confederates plating a number of ves- 
sels, few of which succeeded in doing any serious dam- 
age. The most effective work on their side was done 
by the formidable " Merrimac " in Hampton Roads, 
which played havoc with the wooden squadron there 
until checked in its career of destruction by the " Mon- 
itor." The next to have any measure of success was 
the "Albemarle," built on the Roanoke River, and de- 
signed for action against the North Carolina blockad- 
ing fleet. 

The " Albemarle " was a flat-bottomed boat, de- 
signed to cross the shoals at Hatteras Inlet, and plated 
with two layers of two-inch iron. She was operated by 
two engines of two hundred horse-power each, and car- 
ried one-hundred-pounder Armstrong guns in bow and 
stern, in addition to broadside guns. This boat, pow- 
erful for those days, was begun in January, 1863, but 
was not ready for action till April, 1864. On the 17th 
of that month it left its moorings, and at midnight on 
the 19th attacked the gunboats near Plymouth, at the 
mouth of the Roanoke. Piles had been driven by the 
Union forces to keep her up the river, but high water 
carried her over them without difficulty, and she rushed 
294 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 295 

down on the two gunboats on guard, the " Miami " and 
the " Southfield." 

These were on the lookout for such a visit, and had 
been joined together by long booms and chains, the 
"Albemarle " being expected to strike in between them 
and be held at short range under the muzzles of their 
powerful nine-inch Dahlgrens, the projectiles of which 
it was thought would easily penetrate her armor. In- 
stead of that she crossed the bow of the " Miami " and 
rammed and sunk the " Southfield." Captain Flusser, 
of the " Miami," fired at her bravely enough, but a 
shell broke into pieces against her sides and one of its 
fragments bounded back and killed him where he 
stood. The "Miami" thereupon fled, and Plymouth, 
which had at the same time been attacked by a Con- 
federate force under General Hoke, surrendered. 

On May 5th the "Albemarle " had a brush with a 
Union squadron gathered to put her out of service. 
The " Sassacus " rammed her, but did little harm, while 
her guns almost ruined the Union ship, which was only 
saved by the engineer, who kept at his post in spite of 
cut pipes and escaping steam. Other vessels attacked 
the "Albemarle," but she escaped without injury and 
returned to Plymouth. Here she was tied up to the 
wharf to await the completion of a similar ship that 
was being built. This delay was fatal. A Union officer 
had his eye on her and devised a plan that led to her 
destruction. This striking exploit we have now to tell. 

William Barker Cushing, the hero of the sinking 
of the "Albemarle," was a very young but very daring 
officer, born at Delafield, Wisconsin, November 24, 
1842. As a boy, he served as page in the House of 
Representatives at Washington, and in 1857 was ap- 
pointed as a cadet in the Naval Academy. He re- 



296 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

signed, for some reason unknown, on March 21, 1861, 
but volunteered in the naval service in May, and was 
appointed master's mate in the North Atlantic block- 
ading squadron. On the very day of his arrival in 
Virginian waters he had the fortune to capture a 
tobacco schooner valued at $30,000, the first prize 
taken by the navy during the war. 

By July, 1862, he had obtained a lieutenant's com- 
mission through repeated " acts of successful dar- 
ing." Taking part in Rowan's attack on Elizabeth 
City, he was given command of the gunboat " Ellis," 
captured there. With this little craft his chief " acts 
of successful daring " were performed. Ordered to 
attack Jacksonville, intercept the Wilmington mails and 
destroy the salt works at New Juliet, he succeeded in 
the most of these, securing the mails, capturing the 
town — where two prizes were taken — and destroying a 
Confederate camp. On his return, November 25, 1862, 
he got into the wrong channel, and the " Ellis " ran 
aground. He transferred his crew and ship property 
to one of his prizes, but defended the " Ellis " with a 
single pivot gun and six volunteers against a sharp 
fire from shore until this grew so hot that he was 
obliged to fire the " Ellis " and take to flight. He now 
rowed for a mile and a half in an open boat under 
Confederate fire, and escaped unharmed. Such was 
the character of Cushing's bold exploits, of which there 
were others in the North Carolina rivers and sounds, 
and such the man who. in October, 1864, proposed to 
undertake the destruction of the "Albemarle," at im- 
minent risk to himself. 

John L. Lay, a naval engineer, had about that time 
invented a torpedo boat consisting of a light steam 
launch with a long spar protruding from its bow and 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 297 

carrying' a torpedo, to be fired by a string leading from 
its trigger to tbe launch's bow. A dangerous enough 
atTair it was — to the man who operated it, as he was 
entirely unprotected from musketry fire — but Cushing- 
was not the man to stop to think of that. 1 le was quite 
ready to try the boat, with all its risk, and briMight one 
of them down from New York to Albemarle Sound. 

As to the actual danger, it was made tenfold greater 
by " newspaper enterprise." Some reporter got hold 
of the news of the project, and printed the whole story. 
As a result, the Confederates took special pains to de- 
feat any such undertaking. Double rows of pickets 
were driven into the river below Plymouth, a regi- 
ment of soldiers was stationed about the wharf, a biXMu 
of logs was placed around the "Albemarle." so far ofi' 
that no torpe(,lo spar could reach her over it. and sen- 
tries and lookout guards were kept on duty day and 
night. The aflfair was thus made so dangerous and the 
chances of success so slight that it seemed madness to 
undertake it. Yet Gushing did so and succeeded. 

It is true that the young lieutenant did not know of 
all these precautions, but he knew enough to be sure 
his enemies would be on the alert on that night of 
October 26, 1864, when he set out on his perilous en- 
terprise. Up the river went the launch, towing a 
ship's cutter loaded with armed men. But all went 
wrong, the launch grounded, day broke before it could 
be got afloat, and he had to give up the project for 
that day. The next night he started again. The night 
was dark. The engines were new and worked wltli- 
out noise. They passed the lookout sentinels a mile 
down-stream without being seen or heard. They ar- 
rived opposite the ironclad, and then for the first time 
the boom of logs was seen. 



298 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Failure seemed to impend. The torpedo could not 
reach the ship's side over those logs. His first thought 
was to land, board the "Albemarle " and try to carry 
her out bodily. But at that instant came the hail of 
" Boat ahoy ! What boat is that ? " from a wakeful 
sentry ; then a musket shot rang out, followed by a rat- 
tle of musketry from the sentinels on shore. The 
ship's crew, called hastily to quarters, came tumbling 
up in confusion from below. The expedition seemed 
an utter failure, but Gushing did not think so. 

Casting off the cutter, with orders to those in it to 
pull for life, he ran his launch out into the stream, 
swung her around in a wide circle to gain speed, and 
then headed straight for the boom. A storm of bullets 
came from the deck of the "Albemarle," but a dis- 
charge from the howitzer of the launch scattered the 
soldiers, and in an instant more the sloping bow of 
the launch struck the logs. Half submerged and slip- 
pery with river slime, they yielded to the Impact, and the 
launch shot up and over them, and plunged into the 
water inside the boom. The muzzle of a great gun was 
shoved out of a port of the ironclad, but Gushing 
lowered the spar under her hull, raised it till he felt the 
torpedo strike her bottom, and then pulled the trigger- 
string. There came two simultaneous reports, the loud 
roar of the hundred-pounder, whose ball rushed out 
above their heads, and the mufifled roar of the hundred- 
pound dynamite torpedo, which tore a great opening 
in the ship's hull. In a minute she began to sink. 

The great wave made by the torpedo filled the 
launch, which also sank, but Gushing and his crew 
sprang into the stream and swam away. The final 
result was that one man was killed and one drowned, 
the others, except two, being captured. Fortunately, 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 299 

one of the two who escaped was Lieutenant Gushing, 
and the story of his escape is, in its way, as interesting 
as that of his exploit. 

While most of the swimming crew were captured, 
the commander of the launch was sought for in vain. 
A bonfire was kindled on the wharf, but it failed to 
reveal any swimming form. After some search the 
boats returned, their rowers satisfied that he was 
drowned. The fact was he had already reached shore 
— on .the Plymouth side — and flung himself down, 
chilled and exhausted. He was near the walls of a 
fort, with a sentry pacing steadily above. There was 
a bushy swamp near by, but how should he reach it? 
Half the distance was made in a dash while the sentry 
was walking away from him. As he lay, waiting for 
another opportunity, four men passed close by, but 
failed to see him. He dared not venture another dash, 
but finally reached the swamp by wriggling slowly on. 
Under its screening bushes he made his way onward, 
and by day-dawn was at a safe distance from the fort. 

From the swamp he succeeded in reaching a corn- 
field near by, and now for the first time found it safe 
to stand upright. On reaching the other side, to his 
dismay, he came unexpectedly face to face with a man. 
Fortunately it was a man with a black face, and the 
second glance told him he was safe. In those days no 
Union soldier had occasion to fear a black face. For 
that matter, the old negro was little blacker than him- 
self, after his crawl through the mud. Telling him 
who he was, he sent him into the town for news, wait- 
ing in the cornfield for his return. An hour brought 
back his dusky messenger, smiling with delight. 

" What news ? " asked Gushing. 

" Mighty good news, massa. De big iron ship's gone 



300 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

to de bottom, suali, and the folks say she'll neber get 
up ag'in." 

" Good! She's done for. then? Now, old man, tell 
me how I can get back to the ships." 

The negro gave him what directions he could, and 
the fugitive took to the swamp again. The bushes 
were so thick and tangled that he could scarcely see 
ten feet in advance, but. guiding himself by the sun, he 
went on. hour after hour, at two o'clock reaching the 
banks of a narrow creek. As he crouched in the 
bushes beside it voices reached his ears, and gazing 
warily out he saw across the stream a party of seven 
soldiers who had just landed and were tying their boat 
to the root of a tree. Taking a path that led upward, 
they stopped at some distance from the stream, sat 
down, and began to eat their midday meal. 

Here was an opportunity. The chance was a des- 
perate one. He might be seen and caught. But he 
was a man to whom such a chance appealed, and he 
was thoroughly weary of wandering through mire and 
thorns. Slipping noiselessly into the water, he swam 
the stream, untied the boat, pushed it cautiously from 
the bank and swam beside it down the stream until 
it had drifted out of the range of sight of its late occu- 
pants. Then he clambered in and rowed away as fast 
as possible. As for the soldiers — well, they were left 
to digest their meal ; he saw no more of them. 

It was a long journey down the crooked and wind- 
ing stream, but its bushy and swamp-lined banks saved 
him from observation, and shortly after nightfall the 
winding waters told him that he was on the Roanoke. 
On he rowed till midnight was at hand. For ten hours 
he had been at that exhausting toil. But now his glad- 
dened eyes saw before him the dark hull of a gunboat. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 301 

" Ship ahoy ! " he shouted. 

" Who goes there ? " demanded the startled lookout. 

" A friend. Take me up." 

In a brief time the gunboat was in motion. This 
might be some Confederate ruse — possibly a torpedo 
in this strange guise. Boats were lowered and rowed 
towards him. 

'"Who are you?" came the hail. 

" Lieutenant Gushing, or what is left of me." 

"Gushing!" The voice was excited. "And the 
'Albemarle?' " 

" Will never trouble you again. She lies in a muddy 
grave on the bottom of the Roanoke," 

Loud cheers followed this welcome news, and the 
exhausted man was quickly on board, where the story 
of his gallant deed excited all hearers to enthusiasm. 
His act was as signal for cool daring as that famous 
one in which Decatur destroyed the " Philadelphia." 
On starting out on his enterprise Gushing had said, 
with a laugh, ** Another stripe or a cofifin." The stripe 
came to him, and also the warm thanks of the Naval 
Department and the enthusiastic appreciation of the 
people, with whom Gushing had made himself a hero. 

He subsequently, during the siege of Fort Fisher, 
buoyed the channel for Porter's fleet, being under fire 
in an open boat for six hours. In the final attack on 
the fort he led a company of sailors and marines. Af- 
ter the war he served on the Pacific and Asiatic sta- 
tions, commanding the ** Lancaster " and the '* Mau- 
mee," and in 1872 was promoted commander, the 
youngest of that rank in the service. He was then in a 
state of ill-health, and died at Washington December 
17, 1874, then only thirty-two years of age. 



GEORGE DEWEY AND THE BATTLE OF 
MANILA BAY 

After the close of the Civil War there was nothing 
but routine duty for the United States Navy until 
April 25th, 1898, on which daV war with Spain was 
declared, and an eight-word cablegram flashed over 
continents and under seas to Commodore Dewey at 
Hongkong. These were the significant words : " Cap- 
ture or destroy the Spanish squadron at Manila." 
Never were orders more quickly or completely carried 
out. In less than a week from the date of this message 
the Spanish squadron at Manila had ceased to exist. 
It is our purpose to tell how this signal work was done. 

Long before that date George Dewey had been in the 
naval service of the United States, and he had shown 
the kind of man he was with Farragut on the Missis- 
sippi. Born at Montpelier, Vermont, December 26, 
1837, he entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 
1854, graduating four years later and serving on the 
frigate " Wabash " in Mediterranean waters. He was 
on leave of absence when the Civil War broke out, but 
immediately reported for duty, being promoted lieuten- 
ant on April 19, and ordered to the " Mississippi," on 
which he was second officer in Farragut's great fight 
with the forts below New Orleans. In passing Fort 
St. Philip this ship came under the fire of the fort at 
such close range that the gunners in fort and ship ex- 
changed hostile compliments in the shape of hearty 
curses. 

Dewey's first special display of valor and coolness 
302 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 303 

in danger came when Farragut's fleet was running the 
batteries at Port Hudson, In this perilous operation 
the " Richmond," disabled by a shot, turned back, 
retarding the " Mississippi," which ran aground on the 
flats under the guns of the fort. In this dilemma 
Dewey showed the steadiest courage. The ship was 
riddled and set on fire by the enemy's batteries, but 
he stayed on board under fire until he had spiked all 
her guns and then escaped with the captain in a small 
boat. The crew had meanwhile made their escape by 
swimming. As the opposite side of the river was 
reached the flames reached the magazine and the " Mis- 
sissippi " was blown into fragments. 

In July, 1863, Dewey was in the gunboat flotilla 
that engaged the batteries below Donaldsonville, and 
later on took part in the " Colorado " in the two at- 
tacks on Fort Fisher. In March, 1865, he was pro- 
moted lieutenant commander and was variously en- 
gaged in the following years, his first independent com- 
mand being on the " Narragansett " in 1870. He was 
on this vessel for five years, being made commander 
in 1872. After several years of duty on the Lighthouse 
Board he returned to sea duty in the Asiatic squadron, 
commanding the " Juniata," and in 1884, on the com- 
pletion of the coast despatch boat " Dolphin," the first 
vessel in our new navy, Dewey was assigned to her 
with the rank of captain. 

Commanding the " Pensacola," the flagship of the 
European squadron, from 1885 to 1888, he was for 
years afterwards on shore duty in various capacities, 
gaining the rank of commodore in 1896, and taking 
command of the Asiatic squadron at Hongkong, 
China, January i, 1898. He fancied himself " shelved " 
at this far-off station, but it proved a fortunate assign- 



304 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ment for him, as it put him in position to perform the 
great feat of his Hfe, one for which his fearlessness, 
coolness in danger, and long experience admirably 
adapted him. 

Events moved rapidly after Dewey reached Hong- 
kong. In February the battleship " Maine " was sunk 
by a torpedo in Havana harbor. As no reparation 
could be got from Spain for this outrage, and as the 
war spirit ran high in the country, a declaration of 
war with Spain was issued on April 25, and on the 
same day the order noted above was sent at lightning 
speed to the commodore of the Asiatic squadron, ten 
thousand miles away. 

Dewey wasted no time. England having declared 
itself neutral, he was obliged to leave the British port 
of Hongkong and fall down to the Chinese station of 
Mirs Bay, where all preparations were hastily com- 
pleted. On the 27th of April, two days after the 
message had reached him, his squadron steamed away 
into the broad seas, headed for the Philippine Islands, 
a group of tropic isles that for centuries had been un- 
der the dominion of Spain. In Luzon, the largest and 
most northerly of these islands, was the large city of 
Manila, the centre of Spanish power in the East. And 
here, in Manila Bay, were forts and ships. Whether 
the Americans were headed for victory or death no 
man could have foretold. To all appearance George 
Dewey did not stop to think of any such contingency. 
The order was given — it was his duty to obey. 

For three days across the China Sea the good ships 
steamed straight onward, and on the morning of Sat- 
urday, April 30, the men on the leading ships saw a 
green and beautiful shore rising above the waves and 
beheld far away the faint blue lines of the mountains 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 305 

of Luzon. Along this tropical coast they headed south- 
wardly, stopping to look into a bay on their way for 
possible Spanish ships, and at nightfall reaching a posi- 
tion near the entrance of Manila Bay. Here the ships 
were slowed up to wait for darkness. There were 
known to be forts guarding the entrance, and it was 
the part of wisdom to avoid the fire of these forts if it 
could be done. 

The Bay of Manila is a splendid body of water, run- 
ning many miles into the land, the city of Manila lying 
twenty miles inland from the entrance. This en- 
trance is narrow and midway between its headlands 
lies a small, low island. On this were the batteries 
guarding the entrance. As Manila had cable connec- 
tion with Europe, it was well known that its people 
would be advised of the war, and probably keenly on 
the lookout for American men-of-war. This being 
the case, caution and prudence were necessary. 

Waiting until midnight was near at hand, the ves- 
sels were again got under way, steaming slowly on- 
ward until the dark headlands of the harbor's mouth 
became visible as darker shadows in the gloom of 
night. The moon was in the sky, but gray clouds 
veiled it and darkness lay on the scene. On went the 
ships, all their lights out except a small electric light 
at the stern of each as a guide to the next in line. Like 
shadows they glided in, swiftly and silently. Not a 
sound came from the forts. The sentinels seemed fast 
asleep. 

Suddenly, after some of the ships had passed the 
danger point, the forts waked up. A rocket shot high 
into the air, lighting up the surface of the bay. Then 
came a deep boom and a sheet of flame, and a shell 
whizzed out and plunged hissing into the sea beyond. 
20 



3o6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

Some shots were fired back, but in a few minutes more 
all the ships were safely past the batteries and in 
Manila Bay. The first point of peril had been left 
behind. 

Morning was at hand when, from the decks of the 
speeding- ships, a distant group of lights were visible, 
like faint earth-stars. Manila lay low before them, 
and as dawn whitened in the sky there grew visible 
the gleam of white sails and the buildings of the city 
rising behind them. These were merchant vessels, not 
the warships of which they were in search ; but Dewey 
knew where to find these, and they were soon visible, 
lying across the mouth of the little bay of Cavite, a few 
miles south of the city. Six days had passed since 
the order came from the opposite side of the earth, and 
already the hostile fleets lay face to face. 

Let us stop here and review the situation. Dewey 
had under him seven fighting vessels, the " Olympia," 
his flagship ; the " Baltimore," " Boston," " Raleigh," 
" Petrel," " Concord," and the revenue cutter " Mc- 
Culloch," with a collier and a supply ship. The Span- 
ish vessels were ten in number, the " Reina Christina," 
" Castilla," " Don Antonio de Ulloa," '' Isla de Luzon," 
" Isla de Cuba," " General Lezo," " Marquis de 
Duero," " Cano," " Velasco," and "Isla de Minda- 
nao," with a transport. The Americans had the larg- 
est ships and the best guns, but they were in strange 
waters and the Spaniards were at home, which made 
a considerable difference in their favor. The ships 
were drawn up in a line across a narrow passage, with 
a fort at each end of the line. They had laid dynamite 
mines under the water ; they knew all about soundings 
and distances, and if they had attended properly to 
their business would have known how to aim so as to 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 307 

hit a mark at any distance within range. With all this 
to their advantage, they certainly seemed to have the 
best of the situation and it looked as if the daring 
Americans were about to attack an impregnable line. 

Dewey was well aware of all this, but he did not let 
it influence his action. Like Farragut and Nelson, he 
took the offensive from the start, and concentrated his 
fire upon the strongest ships, one after another, with 
terrible effect, the fire of his gunners being notable 
for its terrific rapidity and wonderful accuracy of 
aim, while that of the Spaniards was notable only for 
the opposite qualities. 

But we are in advance of our story, and must return 
to its details. The sight of the Spanish ships stirred 
up the American commodore as the sight of the goal 
near at hand gives spirit to a noble racer. No sooner 
were these ships discerned in the dawning day than 
the American squadron, the Stars and Stripes float- 
ing at every mast-head, rushed towards them, the 
" Olympia " in the lead, the other ships following 
in line. 

As they swept before the city the great guns in its 
forts roared out defiance. Then, as Cavite was 
reached, its batteries and ships poured in their fire. 
Through all this the American ships swept grandly on, 
not firing a gun. On the bridge of the " Olympia " 
Dewey stood, exposed to the storm of Spanish shot 
and shell, like Farragut in the rigging at Mobile. He 
had selected a place where he could see, and peril was 
a secondary consideration. As the " Olympia " drove 
on two mines exploded in front of it. Had they been 
delayed a few seconds later the good ship would prob- 
ably have been sunk like the " Tecumseh " at Mobile, 
but they had been fired too soon, and the flagship was 



3o8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

safe. We do not know if Dewey used the expressive 
words of Farragut at Mobile, but the " Olympia " did 
not swerve from her course. Torpedoes were mere 
passing incidents at that critical moment. 

" Remember the ' Maine,' " roared an old sea-dog 
at this moment, and the shout went through the ship. 
Dewey was peering from his exposed post at the 
hostile line. 

" You may fire when you are ready. Captain Grid- 
ley," he said, at length. Gridley was quite ready. In 
an instant a great eight-inch shell from the " Olympia " 
went screaming through the air. This was the signal 
that was anxiously awaited throughout the squadron. 
The fire of the " Baltimore " and " Boston " followed, 
and each ship took it up in succession as it came into 
position, pouring shot and shell on ships and forts. 
The fire came back, fast and furious, but there was a 
remarkable difference in accuracy of aim, the American 
missiles rarely failing to reach their mark, while hardly 
a single shot from the Spanish guns struck a ship. 
Not an American was killed or wounded, while the 
Spanish fell by scores. Bad gunnery by the Spanish 
crews made the conflict strikingly one-sided. 

Getting out of range, the " Olympia " turned back, 
bringing her other battery into action and followed 
by the other ships, and six times in this way the Span- 
ish line was passed and its ships torn by shot and shell, 
the roar of the fight continuing incessantly from its 
start. 

This frightful punishment was more than the Span- 
iards could bear. Admiral Montojo, maddened by his 
losses, made a fierce dash out with his flagship, the 
" Reina Christina," proposing to cut the " Olympia " 
in two ; but in an instant the whole of the American 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 309 

fire was concentrated on this one ship, riddhng it with 
a frightful storm of iron hail. Seeing that he would 
be sunk if he kept on, Montojo quickly turned to run 
back, but as he did so the ship was raked from stem 
to stern by an eight-inch shell, which did fearful dam- 
age, killing men by scores, blowing open the deck, ex- 
ploding one of the boilers, setting the ship on fire. The 
brave Montojo fought on, but the white smoke of 
fiames ascended from the hold and his ship seemed 
wounded beyond hope. 

A second desperate effort was made by two torpedo 
boats, which came speeding out. They met with a 
similar reception. In an instant they were being rid- 
dled by rapid-fire guns, and in a few minutes one of 
them went to the bottom like a stone while the other 
turned and ran ashore. 

Two hours of this dreadful work practically ended 
the fight. All of the Spanish ships had been riddled 
and three of them were in flames. Dewey thought he 
could safely give his men a rest and a breakfast, and 
see how affairs stood with him. The ships, there- 
fore, steamed away. As it proved, almost no harm had 
come to them, the Spanish firing having been a fright- 
ful waste of shot and shell. Eight men had been 
slightly hurt by the explosion of a box of powder, but 
none by a Spanish shot. 

Shortly after eleven o'clock the squadron returned. 
The Spanish flag was still defiantly flying, but most of 
the ships were in flames, and some had sunk. They 
began to fire again and for an hour more kept up the 
one-sided contest. By that time all their ships were 
blazing and not one of them was afloat. They lay on 
the bottom of the shallow bay, with their upper works 
above water. The battle was won. 



3IO HEROES OF THE NAVY 

The American people were wild with delight when 
the news of Dewey's signal victory reached them. Few 
of them had ever heard his name before, but now he 
was looked upon as a national hero. " Dewey on the 
bridge " was taken as a fine counterpart of " Farragut 
in the shrouds." Congress voted him thanks and a 
handsome sword, and had medals struck for distribu- 
tion for every man on the ships. The rank of rear 
admiral was given him, and in 1899 ^^ "^^^^ commis- 
sioned admiral, a rank previously borne only by Far- 
ragut and Porter. It was felt that, however unevenly 
matched were the two fleets, Dewey had taken the most 
perilous chances in bearding the enemy in his lair and 
in risking all the perils of mines and torpedo boats in 
his gallant dash. The general verdict upon his achieve- 
ment was voiced by an eminent naval critic, who 
said : 

" This complete victory was the result of forethought, 
cool, well-balanced judgment, discipline, and bravery. 
It was a magnificent achievement, and Dewey will go 
down in history ranking with John Paul Jones and 
Lord Nelson as a naval hero." 

Many at this day may look on this as an extrava- 
gant eulogy, thinking that, whatever Dewey was ca- 
pable of doing, what he did was not worthy of such 
high praise. But that he took desperate chances and 
fought with the spirit of a naval hero none can 
doubt. 

Dewey afterwards aided the army in the capture of 
Manila, and left for home in the " Olympia " in April, 
1899, receiving an enthusiastic ovation in a number of 
cities after landing on his native shores. 

Since his return Admiral Dewey has resided at 
"Washington, where he has acted as a member of the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 311 

Philippines Commission, as president of the Schley- 
Sampson Board of Inquiry, and in other prominent 
capacities. For a number of years past he has offici- 
ated as senior member of the General Board of the 
Navy, and has several years of active duty awaiting 
him before the age of retirement and rest on his 
laurels will come. 



RICHMOND PEARSON HOBSON AND THE 
SINKING OF THE "MERRIMAC" 

The three months' Spanish war was too brief to 
yield opportunity for many deeds of daring by flood or 
field. The only naval battle was that at Manila, and 
there the inefficiency of the Spanish gunners converted 
what might have been a desperate conflict into a one- 
sided work of slaughter. Dewey and his men boldly 
dared unknown perils, but the chances of war proved 
to be all on their side. 

In West Indian waters the service narrowed itself 
into the siege and bombardment of several Spanish 
strongholds, followed by the scenic effect of the sinking 
of the Santiago squadron. But this was a chase, not 
a battle, a frightful pounding of the Spanish ships un- 
til they all went to the ocean bottom. Not for an 
instant had they the ghost of a chance, and all the af- 
fair demonstrated was the alertness of the American 
captains and crews, and the speed and power of the 
warships of the new American Navy. The only bit of 
actual daring displayed was that of Lieutenant Wain- 
wright, late of the unfortunate " Maine." In his 
little armed yacht, the " Gloucester," he boldly faced 
the Spanish torpedo boats " Furor " and " Pluton," 
and poured on them such a hail of shot that they 
were both sunk. He also had the bold assurance to 
attack one of the Spanish cruisers as it came steaming 
out of the channel, and to bring his little craft under 
the fire of the Spanish batteries. The only actual 
fighting that day was done by the brave Wainwright. 
312 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 313 

But while this went on there lay as a prisoner in 
Santiago a young American who had done a deed of 
superb courage, one which at the time excited the en- 
thusiastic plaudits of his fellow-citizens and is still 
ranked among the daring exploits of our naval heroes. 
It was of the type of those of Decatur in the burning 
of the " Philadelphia " and of Gushing in the sinking 
of the "Albemarle," and equally claims a place in these 
pages, despite the fact that the enterprise failed. Hero- 
ism should be measured by the boldness of the effort, 
not by the success of the exploit, and in this respect 
Richmond Hobson may claim to be put in the same 
rank with the two men named, the sinking of the 
" Merrimac " in Santiago harbor being one of those 
examples of signal valor in which men trust themselves 
in the very jaws of death. 

Richmond Pearson Hobson was of Southern origin, 
being born at Greensborough, Alabama, August 17th, 
1870. His grandfather had for many years been 
Ghief Justice of the Supreme Gourt of North Garo- 
lina and his father had served in the Gonfederate army. 
Entering the Naval Academy at Annapolis, he grad- 
uated in 1889, and on July i, 1891, was promoted as- 
sistant naval constructor. His active service began 
on the " Ghicago," with the squadron of evolution in 
the Mediterranean, and in the expedition to Brazil to 
recognize the flag of the new Brazilian republic, after 
which he was sent for a three years' course of special 
study abroad. This was spent in Paris, where he 
received a diploma with distinction in naval construc- 
tion and design. 

Returning in 1893, he was engaged in various fields 
of shipbuilding work till 1897, when he organized and 
conducted a post-graduate course in constructive en- 



314 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

gineering at the Naval Academy. During the Spanish 
war he was in Admiral Sampson's flagship, the " New 
York," at the bombardment of Matanzas and San 
Juan, and the subsequent siege of Santiago. It was 
during the latter that the exploit here under considera- 
tion took place. 

In Santiago harbor lay a squadron of fine Spanish 
cruisers, the " Maria Teresa," Admiral Cervera's flag- 
ship ; the " Viscaya," the " Oquendo," and the " Cris- 
tobal Colon," with the two torpedo boats already men- 
tioned. Outside the harbor had gathered a great fleet 
of battleships, cruisers, monitors, gunboats, etc., far 
surpassing the Spanish ships in strength. The only 
hope of the latter was to steal out of the harbor under 
cover of night and make a dash for the open sea. Once 
out of the close cage in which they lay, they might do 
some serious damage to American interests before they 
were overtaken, and Admiral Sampson was concerned 
about this awkward possibility. How was it to be pre- 
vented? The only way that seemed available was to 
block up the narrow channel leading to the harbor by 
sinking a ship across its width, thus confining the 
Spaniards in the place of shelter they had sought. 
Young Hobson volunteered for this perilous task. 

The project was one of extreme danger, as those 
attempting it would very likely be brought under the 
guns of the Spanish batteries and the ships in the har- 
bor, with only the narrowest chance of escape. Ad- 
miral Sampson did not like to send any one on such a 
desperate enterprise, but Hobson insisted on going, 
and was at length permitted to try. He had no trouble 
in getting seven volunteers to take the risk with him. 
American jack-tars have never been backward in risk- 
ing death in exploits of peril. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 315 

Let us tell this story without dealing with prelim- 
inary details, going forward to the night of June 3, 
1898, in which it was accomplished. The night was a 
dark one. Somewhere in the sky was a moon, but 
heavy clouds blotted out its light. Midnight had 
passed and the morning hours were moving on, when 
a dark object left the side of the " New York " and 
glided silently away towards the harbor's mouth. It 
was an old steamship, the " Merrimac," which, con- 
verted into a collier, had brought a load of coal to the 
fleet. Six hundred tons of this coal still lay in her 
hold, for it was proposed to sink the " Merrimac " and 
do it quickly, and a sufficient weight was needed for 
this purpose. 

The harbor of Santiago may be compared to a great, 
misshapen water-bottle, and the channel leading to it 
to the bottle's neck. The plan devised was to sink 
the " Merrimac " across this slender neck and thus cork 
up the ships in the bottle. The collier was to be taken 
in to the narrowest part of the channel, then anchored 
and made to swing across its width by aid of the rud- 
der. In this position it would be sunk. For this 
purpose a row of torpedoes had been ranged along 
the inside shell of the ship, with electric wires arranged 
to set them off at the proper time. This done, all on 
board were to spring overboard, swim to the little boat 
that was towed astern, and row at all speed out of the 
harbor, where a young officer in a ship's cutter would 
pick them up. The scheme was well devised, but it 
was subject to a hundred contingencies and there was 
little hope of carrying it through without rousing the 
Spanish sentries and drawing the fire of the forts. In 
fact, the odds were ten to one that none of the daring 
eight would escape alive, and that the old ship would 



3i6 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

not live through the storm of shot and shell which 
she was almost certain to call forth. 

It was about three o'clock in the morning when the 
" Merrimac " entered the mouth of the channel. Here 
between the lofty headlands it was very dark. There 
was not a light on the ship and not a sound was heard. 
Had the Spaniards not been keenly on the alert all 
might have gone well. As it proved, they were not 
taking chances, but had a small picket boat moving 
about on the lookout for invasion of any sort. 

This vigilance was the chief difficulty in the way 
of success. The men on the boat saw a black mass 
gliding in, like a deeper darkness in the dense gloom. 
What it was they knew not. It might be one of the 
American warships stealing into the harbor under 
cover of the night. At all events, it was a thing of 
questionable character, and they fired several shots at 
it, one of which hit and severed the rudder chain. It 
was this chance hit that turned the enterprise from a 
success into a failure. 

The alarm shots roused the Spaniards in the forts, 
and in a trice dozens of them were at their stations. 
What was this thing of gloom, gliding ghostlike into 
the harbor ? Was it an American battleship ? Was all 
the fleet following it in ? There was no time to lose in 
idle questions, and the guns of Morro Castle and of the 
batteries on the hillsides bounding the channel opened 
fire and poured a storm of bullets on the venturesome 
ship. Soon the Spanish cruisers in the harbor joined 
in, firing down the channel, and a frightful din suc- 
ceeded the late silence. Nor was this all. As the 
" Merrimac " drove onward a dynamite mine exploded ; 
but it went off behind her, and its only efifect was to 
add to the din and fling a torrent of water into the air. 




Copyright, 1898, by Arkell Publishing Company 

LIEUTENANT HOBSON ON THE MERRIMAC 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 317 

Fierce and furious was the cannonade, but the 
" Merrimac," hidden by the darkness and the smoke 
of the guns, went on unharmed. Keenly alert were 
Hobson and his men. Shot and shell screamed and 
whistled in the air around them, but they kept to their 
posts and pushed her steadily onward, regardless of 
the iron storm, until the narrow part of the channel 
was reached. Then the anchor was dropped and the 
engines reversed, Hobson setting the helm to swing 
her round. The ship failed to respond, and he now 
first learned that the rudder chain was cut and all 
steering power gone. That picket boat shot had spoiled 
the well-laid plan. The ship could not be swung cross- 
wise in the channel, and the best they could do was 
to sink her lengthwise, with the hope that this might 
close the passage. 

Several men were below, one with a sledge to break 
open the sea-doors in the ship's bottom, another to 
keep the engine going till warned to flee. As these 
men appeared on deck Hobson touched the electric but- 
ton. In an instant a dull roar came from below, and 
the ship wildly pitched and rolled. That touch had 
exploded a thousand pounds of powder and blown 
great jagged holes in the ship's sides, through which 
the water poured in a torrent. As she began to settle 
Hobson and his men sprang over the side into the 
water, the slower ones being hurled overboard by the 
shock. The next instant the " Merrimac " went down 
like a stone, and wild cheers of triumph arose from 
forts and ships. The Spanish gunners fancied that 
they had sunk an American battleship. 

The bold adventurers swam for the boat in which 
lay their forlorn hope of escape. It was gone. A shot 
had carried it away. The eight men were left swim- 



3i8 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

ming about with scarcely a chance of escape, for they 
felt sure that if they swam ashore they would be 
killed by the infuriated soldiers; yet if they stayed 
where they were speedy drowning seemed their lot. 

They owed their lives to a fortunate chance. Just 
before leaving the " New York," an old catamaran — 
a kind of raft — had been thrown on the ship's deck, 
with the thought that it might be of service in such an 
emergency as this. It had been tied by a rope to the 
ship's deck, and now lay floating above the sunken 
vessel. By good luck the rope was a little short, pull- 
ing the side it was fastened to under the water, while 
the other side rose a little above. Hobson and his 
men got under the high side of the raft and held on to 
it by putting their fingers through the crevices. "All 
night long we stayed there with our noses and mouths 
barely out of the water," says Hobson. 

Boats quickly put out from the shores, and the pass- 
age was closely searched ; so quick indeed were they 
that the fugitives were barely under the float before 
one of them rowed close up. For the remainder 
of the night they kept moving about. To those under 
the float the water at first was warm, but it quickly 
seemed to grow cold and they felt their fingers aching 
and their teeth chattering. Luckily for them, none of 
the boatmen seemed to pay the least attention to the 
old catamaran which was bobbing about on the surface. 
Finally the situation grew so trying to the fugitives 
that one of them left his place and started to swim 
ashore. Hobson sternly called him back, and he 
obeyed, but the voice was heard and several boats 
rowed up, their inmates looking curiously about, but 
no one thinking of investigating the float. 

It was fear of the soldiers that kept Hobson from 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 319 

revealing himself, but after day-dawn, when a steam 
launch full of officers and marines came close up, he 
ventured on a hail, satisfied that some officer of rank 
was on board. His cry was heard with seeming con- 
sternation. The launch backed hastily off and the ma- 
rines stood ready to fire. Only the voice of an officer 
kept them from firing when the fugitives suddenly ap- 
peared from under the float. Hobson swam towards 
the launch and called out in Spanish : " Is there an offi- 
cer on board ? " When an affirmative answer came he 
shouted again : " I have seven men to surrender." In 
a minute more he was seized and pulled on board the 
launch. 

He was a sorry-looking object, having been at work 
in the engine room of the collier and being covered 
with oil, soot, and coal-dust. Admiral Cervera, who 
was on the launch, looked at him dubiously until he 
pointed to his officer's belt, which he had put on before 
sinking the " Merrimac." The admiral then said : 
" You are welcome." His treatment and that of his 
officers was courteous from that time on. In fact, the 
daring of the adventurers seemed to appeal to him 
strongly. 

The prisoners were taken ashore and locked up in 
Morro Castle, but the admiral was considerate enough 
to send out an officer with a flag of truce to the fleet 
reporting their safety. In his letter to the admiral of 
the fleet Cervera expressed admiration of their cour- 
age and promised that they should be well treated. He 
kept his word throughout, though they were more 
severely dealt with when they fell into the hands of 
General Linares, in command at Santiago. Their cap- 
tivity continued about five weeks, when Hobson was 
exchanged for a Spanish lieutenant, and his seven 



320 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

brave followers for fourteen privates. They received 
a most enthusiastic welcome on their return to the 
ship, Admiral Sampson embracing Hobson in the 
warmth of his greeting, while the crew fairly swal- 
lowed up their returned comrades in their delirious 
delight. 

Before this happened the gallant Cervera was him- 
self a captive, and his ships were destroyed. The 
" Merrimac " had only partly closed the channel, a 
passage being left open beside it, and on the morning 
of July 3d the squadron came out and sought to escape 
by flight, with the result that the ships were followed 
and sunk. But the admiral was looked upon as a 
guest rather than a captive, for the American people 
could not forget his generous treatment of Hobson and 
his men, and felt like lionizing their involuntary visitor. 

Hobson was thanked by Congress for his feat and 
promoted to the grade of naval constructor, a rank 
equivalent to that of lieutenant. 

His reception by the people was ultra-enthusiastic, 
his action being regarded as a deed of the highest 
heroism. Later on he was charged with the inspection 
of the Spanish wrecks and the operations to save them, 
the " Maria Theresa " being lifted. In the following 
year he was sent to Hongkong to oversee the repair of 
three Spanish ships raised at Manila. 

Hobson resigned from the navy in 1903, and after- 
wards ran as a candidate for Congress. He especially 
became an active advocate of a powerful navy, making 
hundreds of speeches in all parts of the country in 
favor of this and doing his utmost in advocacy of 
making the United States the greatest sea power in 
the world. 



SAMPSON AND SCHLEY ON THE TRAIL 
OF THE SPANISH SHIPS 

It was long after the American Civil War, not long 
before the date of the short-lived Spanish war, that 
the great republic of the West showed any vital activity 
in building a new navy and launching a fair-sized 
fighting fleet upon the waters that bordered its oceanic 
shores. It had proved in the Civil War that the period 
of the " wooden walls " was at an end, that the war- 
ship of the future must be a floating fort of iron and 
steel, and must carry cannon whose shells were large 
and swift enough to pierce thick walls of this rigid 
metal. Wooden ships of war had had their day, but 
that day was at an end. Those still afloat were fit only 
to be consigned to the scrap heap. But the land of the 
Stars and Stripes, Uncle Sam's far-flung domain, was 
slow in making use of the lesson it had taught. While 
the nations of Europe were rapidly transforming their 
navies into steel-clad fleets, the United States was slow 
in doing the same work, and it was not until the verge 
of the war with Spain that it became alert and active 
in this needed labor. Fortunately for it, Spain was still 
more derelict and was far from capable of facing the 
American war fleet. 

Aside from the brief army campaign in front of 
Santiago, the chief events of the war had principally 
to do with the navies of the two powers. We have 
already described its two most dramatic events, the 
picturesque exploits achieved by Commodore Dewey at 
Manila and by Lieutenant Hobson in the Santiago 
21 321 



322 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

channel. There was, however, another dramatic event 
in the Cuban waters, in which Admiral Sampson and 
Commodore Schley, of the American navy, were the 
chief actors. A chase rather than a fight was this, but 
it was one of sufficient interest to be worth the telling. 
It has been briefly spoken of in the story of Hobson 
and the Merrimac, but here calls for a more detailed 
account. 

The North Atlantic squadron of the American fleet, 
then under command of acting Admiral William T. 
Sampson, consisted of the armored cruiser " New 
York," Admiral Sampson's flag-ship ; the battleships 
" Iowa " and " Indiana," four double-turreted moni- 
tors, as many cruisers and a considerable number of 
gunboats and other small craft. A smaller naval force, 
known as the " Flying Squadron," under Winfield Scott 
Schley, consisting of the battleships " Massachusetts " 
and "Texas," the armored cruiser "Brooklyn," Commo- 
dore Schley's flag-ship, and some smaller vessels, lay 
at Newport News, ready to protect the seaboard cities 
against any sudden dash upon them of a Spanish naval 
force. In Pacific waters was the battleship " Oregon," 
which had left San Francisco on a long cruise around 
South America to join the Atlantic fleet. To these may 
be added a " Northern Patrol Squadron," under Ad- 
miral Howell, to act as safeguard of the North Atlantic 
cities. Against these Spain had chiefly to show four 
first-class armored cruisers, the " Cristobal Colon," 
"Almirante Oquendo," " Infanta Maria Teresa," and 
" Vizcaya," with some smaller vessels, under Admiral 
Cervera, afloat somewhere in the Atlantic with destina- 
tion unknown. Such were the forces that centred upon 
the island of Cuba, Spain's chief remaining frontier 
in the western seas. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 323 

To Admiral Sampson, on the evening of April 21, 
1898, over the wires from Washington there flashed the 
significant message, " War is declared." It was quickly 
responded to. With scarcely an hour's loss of time 
Sampson's flag-ship sought the high seas, followed 
quickly by the remainder of the squadron, under orders 
to blockade the Cuban coast. Before nightfall of that 
day this blockade had begun, and Havana, on the bot- 
tom of whose harbor lay the sunken battleship "Maine," 
was feeling the stress of war. 

Such was the state of affairs in the opening days of 
the war, which was for a considerable time to be wholly 
naval, consisting of bombardment of Cuban strong- 
holds and a search for the Spanish fleet, the position 
and destination of which were as yet unknown. A dili- 
gent search for it was made by Admiral Sampson along 
the Cuban coast, but without effect. San Juan, the 
capital of the Spanish island of Porto Rico, was visited 
by Sampson's fleet, but it was soon learned that 
Cervera's ships were not there, and after a brief but 
sharp bombardment of the forts defending the harbor 
the warships steamed away. It was, however, soon 
learned that the Spanish ships had reached the West 
Indies, and had obtained coal and other supplies at the 
Dutch island of Curasao, while other islands had re- 
fused to give them supplies. Nothing remained for the 
Spaniards, therefore, but to seek some Cuban or Porto 
Rican port, and steps were at once taken by Sampson 
to seek and search these ports. This new state of affairs 
rendered the detention in the north of Commodore 
Schley's Flying Squadron unnecessary, and on May 
12 his force was released from its duty at Newport 
News and sailed away for Cuban waters. 

At Key West, where Schley stopped to coal, he was 



324 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

joined May i8 by Sampson, whose ships came dash- 
ing in at top speed for the same purpose, eager to fill 
up and dash away again. With a Spanish squadr n of 
powerful vessels at large in the West Indies, there was 
no time to be lost, especially as the coming " Oregon " 
might become their prey. Orders were in consequence 
given Schley to proceed south by the Yucatan Channel 
and scour the southern waters for the foe, while 
Sampson made his way southward by the Windward 
Channel. By the night of the 21st nearly all the vessels 
were plowing the waters for the seas of the South, 
with orders to circumnavigate Cuba in search of the 
Spanish ships. 

Schley's first goal was the land-locked port of Cien- 
f uegos, the harbor of which was fitted to form a haven 
of refuge for the Spaniards. N • evidence of their pres- 
ence was visible, but the harbor could only be entered 
by a channel with two sharp turns, and the vessels might 
readily lay there hidden from sight. Schley therefore 
deemed it wise to wait and make sure before leaving 
open a pathway for Cervera's squadron to dash out and 
head for Havana. But in the meantime definite news 
was coming in. Captains of merchant vessels reported 
having seen the Spaniards near Santiago, a port on 
the eastern end of the island. Some others reported 
that they had seen the Spaniards enter that harbor. 
In consequence of the accumulated news, Schley 
decided to leave Cienfuegos and head for Santiago, 
before whose harbor he arrived on the night of May 27. 
What he found there was reported in a dispatch which 
reached Washington on the 30th, in which he said he 
had seen and recognized the Spanish ships at Santiago. 
On the 1st of June Sampson arrived and as ranking 
officer took command of the combined squadrons. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 325 

He had now under his control a fleet of fifteen war 
vessels with which to lock in Cervera's much smaller 
force. 

These vessels now included the " Oregon," of which 
we have already spoken. For more than two months 
that staunch battleship had been sailing along the Amer- 
ican coast, having left San Franciso on March 19, in 
a cruise of 13,000 miles, a distance longer than half 
the circumference of the earth. It reached Rio Janeiro 
on April 30, and steamed into Jupiter Inlet, Florida, 
on May 25, having coaled four times on its trip. Coal- 
ing again at Jupiter Inlet, it set off at full speed to 
join the blockading fleet before Santiago. It had 
come into port in excellent condition, having made its 
long cruise at a fifteen-knot speed. 

It was now evident that Santiago |was to be the seat 
of the war on Cuban soil. In its harbor the Spanish 
fleet had taken refuge. This had been ascertained by a 
scout who made his way through the high country back 
of that city and, with the exception of one torpedo- 
boat, noted that all the ships were present. Outside 
the channel, in close formation, lay Sampson's and 
Schley's squadrons, on guard against any escape. 
Around Santiago fortifications had been built and were 
guarded by a land force of considerable strength. And 
in the vicinity of that city a strong American army 
was being landed and making rapid preparations for 
an attack in force. Finally Hobson had made his dar- 
ing but unsuccessful effort to lock up the channel by 
sinking the *' Merrimac " across its width, as described 
in the preceding chapter. Such was the state of affairs 
in the latter days of June, by which time the army 
besieging Santiago was ready to make an advance on 
the Spanish works. 



326 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

This assault took place on the ist of July, the Span- 
ish troops being attacked and driven back from all 
their outposts, including those at the crest of San Juan 
Hill, where Colonel Roosevelt and the Rough Riders 
made their famous onslaught. While this battle went 
on ashore, the blockading fleet took some part in it, 
dropping shells into the streets of Santiago, six miles 
away. In the early morning of the 2nd this work of 
bombardment was resumed, Morro Castle, on the hill- 
top overlooking the harbor, being the main object of 
attack. For two or three hours a shower of shells was 
thrown into this venerable fortification, one shot from 
the " Oregon " bringing down the Spanish flag. The 
ships were then withdrawn and the men given an oppor- 
tunity to rest. They would soon need this, for sharp 
and severe work awaited them on the following day. 
In fact the threatened fall of Santiago had put the 
Spanish admiral in a desperate situation. If brought 
between the fire of army and navy, there would be no 
hope of his escape. He might have to yield without a 
fight. This was not to Cervera's taste, nor to that of 
his superiors, for positive orders came to him from 
Madrid to leave the harbor. Apparently the Spanish 
naval authorities thought that his fleet was strong 
enough to put up a good fight or swift enough to outsail 
the American ships. However that be, the brave Cer- 
vera decided to make a dash for freedom at the mid- 
night hour of July 2, availing himself of the aid 
given by the American search-lights, as guides in pass- 
ing the wreck of the *' Merrimac." He was ordered to 
steam at full speed to the westward after leaving the 
harbor, and to concentrate all his fire on the " Brook- 
lyn," which was evidently deemed the most dangerous 
of his enemies. 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 327 

The midnight flight which Cervera designed was, 
for reasons of his own, delayed until the morning of 
Sunday, July 3. As chance or fortune decided, on 
that eventful morning the American fleet lacked much 
of its strength. Several of its ships were at Guanta- 
namo Bay coaling, while the " New York " was also 
absent, carrying Admiral Sampson to Baiquiri, several 
miles eastward along the coast, whither he had gone 
to confer with General Shafter, commander of the 
army before Santiago. The other ships lay at various 
points along the channel entrance, all having drifted to 
the east except the " Brooklyn " and the yacht 
" Vixen," which alone lay west of the entrance. Thus 
Schley, in his flag-ship the " Brooklyn," was alone in a 
position to deal promptly with the enemy, an event 
which has a historical interest, as it gave rise in later 
years to an unfortunate controversy between the two 
commanders, Sampson and Schley. Such was the set- 
ting of the stage for the dramatic ocean chase which 
it is our purpose here to describe, one with little or 
nothing to mate with it in history. 

Several times during the morning the lookout on the 
" Brooklyn " had reported that smoke was rising in the 
harbor and about 9.30 Hodgson, the ship's navigator, 
called to him from the bridge : " Isn't that smoke 
moving?" " Yes!" yelled the lookout. " There's a big 
ship coming out of the harbor, sir." Hodgson, after 
a quick look landward, shouted through the mega- 
phone : "After bridge, there ! Tell the commodore the 
enemy's fleet is coming out." 

The Sunday morning calm was in a moment changed 
to a scene of excitement. " Clear the ship for action !" 
roared the commodore, as he rushed to the deck. The 
men flew to their quarters; th€ stokers below decks 



328 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

hurled coal furiously into the furnaces ; the ammuni- 
tion hoist was actively brought into service ; throughout 
the big ship every man was instantly on the alert. The 
moment for which they had so long waited was at 
hand. The ship itself seemed to throb as if it took 
part in the nervous excitement of its crew. Out of the 
harbor rushed the Spanish ships, the " Infanta Maria 
Teresa," Cervera's flag-ship, in advance, the others 
following. As they came out they turned westward 
down the coast, two torpedo-boat destroyers in the rear. 

" Full speed ahead ! Open fire !" shouted Commodore 
Schley. A stunning roar from the 8- and 5-inch guns 
of the " Brooklyn " answered his words, the shells 
screaming in their rapid flight through the air. The 
other ships fell into line and opened fire in turn. As 
the Spaniards cleared the channel and turned westward 
down the coast the "Oregon" swung around in pursuit, 
her guns roaring, while the " Texas," ** Indiana," and 
" Iowa " added to the din. Five minutes before, the 
great ships had been swinging lazily on the long, rolling 
sea, the men at Sunday " quarters for inspection." Now 
every ship was belching clouds of black smoke into the 
air, every man at his fighting post, and every gun that 
could be brought to bear taking part in the fierce roar. 
In a brief interval the Spanish ships became the centre 
of a concentrated volley of bursting shells of large size 
and great powers of destruction, tearing and rending 
them with the fierce concussions. 

Cervera's return fire was largely concentrated upon 
the " Brooklyn," in accordance with the orders he had 
received. Its position as the most westerly of the 
blockading squadron rendered this easy, and the great 
vessel was made the main target of the Spanish ships 
at the short range of fifteen hundred yards, while the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 529 

west shore battery, three thousand yards away, poured 
its fire in the same direction. Fortunately for the 
Americans, the fire of the enemy did little or no dam- 
age, the gunners lacking the skill and training of the 
Americans, whose fire was very accurate. 

" Fire deliberately and don't waste a shot," was 
Schley's orders to his gunners, who worked their pieces 
as if on shore practice. 

" I have never before witnessed such deadly and 
fatally accurate shooting as was made by the ships of 
your command as they closed in on the Spanish squad- 
ron," he said in his subsequent report to the admiral. 
The men had been carefully trained in gunnery under 
the orders of Theodore Roosevelt, the former Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy, and the results of his fore- 
sight were now beginning to tell. Schley's statement 
was none too strong. In twenty-five ^minutes after the 
first Spanish vessel had been noticed clearing from the 
harbor only two ships of the squadron remained afloat. 
Two of the cruisers were on the beach and in flames, 
and the torpedoboat destroyers had been sunk. 

Admiral Cervera's flag-ship, the first to leave the 
harbor, was the earliest to succumb to the terrific fire. 
A shell from the " Brooklyn " exploded in the admiral's 
cabin and the after part of the ship burst into flames. 
Another shell, from the *' Texas," pierced the side 
armor of the vessel and exploded in the engine room, 
breaking the main steam pipe. Shells burst all around 
the bridge and riddled the hull of the ship. The 
engineer was signalled to start the pumps. He failed 
to reply, and on inspection it was found that every man 
in that part of the ship had been killed. Most of the 
men had been driven from the guns ; the flames were 
shooting high in the air ; further resistance was hopg- 



330 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

less. The captain gave orders to run the ship ashore 
and haul down the flag. As he gave the order he was 
struck by a shell and fell dead. So fast and furious 
was the American fire that the smoke from the bursting 
shells hid the flag, and the fire did not cease until a 
white blanket was run up to the peak. 

Meanwhile the " Almirante Oquendo " was under- 
going a similar baptism of fire. The " Iowa," left in 
the rear by the " Maria Teresa," turned its guns on the 
" Oquendo," then only eleven hundred yards away. 
At that distance the work done by her batteries was 
terrible, all the guns uniting in a torrent of destructive 
fire. Shells were seen to explode in her interior, two 
bursting within her at the same time, fore and aft. 
Her engines for the moment stopped, but she soon 
regained her speed, drawing ahead of the " Iowa," but 
being brought under the guns of the " Oregon," " Indi- 
ana," and ** Texas," by which she was cruelly pounded. 
This was more than could be endured. She was soon 
a sheet of flames and, like the " Teresa," headed for the 
shore. Thus, within less than half an hour after they 
left the harbor, these two vessels were blazing on the 
beach, at a point six or seven miles from the harbor's 
mouth. 

The ** Vizcaya " had not as yet been badly hit, and 
her captain determined to make an effort to ram the 
" Brooklyn," the nearest and fastest of the American 
ships, with tiie hope that the " Colon," and perhaps the 
" Oquendo," might get away. As for the ** Teresa," 
she was evidently past escape. This effort failed, the 
" Brooklyn " circling away, and in turn seeking to 
force the " Vizcaya " ashore. An exchange of fire 
between the two ships followed, the Spanish shells 
going wild, those of the " Brooklyn " hitting their 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 331 

mark. One shell went along the entire gun deck, kill- 
ing and wounding most of the men upon it. The 
*' Oregon " also got in some effective shots, and the 
fire proved so fatal that most of the men were driven 
from their guns. A final shot from the " Oregon " 
brought the fight to a finish, the captain of the " Viz- 
caya " giving an order to haul down the flag and beach 
the ship. This was at a point twenty miles west of the 
Bay of Santiago. The ship blazed fiercely as she lay on 
the beach, and blew up during the night. 

Only one of the Spanish cruisers, the " Cristobal 
Colon," now remained afloat. She was the fastest of 
them all, and so far had escaped injury, having left 
all her consorts in the rear. When the " Vizcaya " 
went ashore the " Colon " was about six miles ahead of 
the " Brooklyn," while the " Oregon " was a mile and 
a half and the " Texas " three miles farther astern. 
The chase was now confined to this single ship, which 
pushed steadily onward, hugging the shore. But her 
spurt of speed could no longer be maintained. The 
" Brooklyn " and the " Oregon " began to gain on her 
mile by mile, the latter with a speed of which she had 
not been thought capable. It was evident that the 
*' Colon," keeping close in to shore, would have to 
round Cape Cruz by a long detour to escape her pur- 
suers. To prevent this Schley headed the " Brooklyn " 
straight for that cape, while signalling the " Oregon " 
to keep on the direct track of the " Colon." 

Two hours passed, the pursuers steadily gaining dur- 
ing the last hour. It was now 12 150 o'clock. It seemed 
advisable to test the distance of the fugitive ship. On 
signal from the '* Brooklyn " the " Oregon " fired one 
of her 13-inch guns. The huge shell plunged into the 
water not far behind the " Colon." Another was fired 



^2,2 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

and fell beyond her. The " Brooklyn " now tried the 
range of her 8-inch guns, one of her shells piercing the 
"Colon" above her armor belt. At 1.05 both ships 
were pounding away at the fugitive, which returned an 
ineffective fire. For some fifteen minutes this was 
kept up, the " Colon " now fast losing speed. It was 
very evident that she could not round Cape Cruz, and 
further resistance had become idle. At 1.20 she gave 
up the hopeless struggle, lowered her flag and headed 
for the shore. Land was touched at Rio Torquino, 
The flight for life had continued for forty-five miles. 

As fortune willed, the battle had been fought to its 
end under the command of Commodore Schley, 
Admiral Sampson being too far distant to take any part 
in the fight. Word had been sent him in all haste, and 
on receiving news of the flight of the Spanish ships 
he had turned and followed the chase at the utmost 
speed of which his flag-ship, the " New York," was 
capable, but he reached the fighting line too late to fire 
a shot in the contest, the " Colon " having surren- 
dered before his arrival. The utmost he could do was 
to receive the surrender of the captain and officers of 
the ship and confirm Schley's order that the officers 
should be permitted to retain all their personal effects. 
As for the " Colon," she had not been injured by the 
firing and little by the beaching, but her sea valves had 
been opened by the crew, and as she slipped off the steep 
beach into the sea she began to sink. To prevent her 
total loss she was pushed bodily back on the beach by 
Sampson's ship, with the result that she sank in shoal 
water, in a location in which it was hoped she might 
be saved. 

Thus ended this remarkable flight and fight, with the 
Spanish squadron lying beached on the Cuban coast, 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 333 

all the ships except the " Colon " in flames. The char- 
acter of the contest is indicated by the statement that 
about six hundred Spaniards were killed, while the 
American loss was one man killed and one wounded. 
In this the battle paralleled that fought in Manila Bay, 
in the utter destruction of the enemy fleet except the 
" Colon " and the immunity of the Americans alike in 
men and ships. Nothing could show more clearly the 
difference in preparation for war in the two cases. 

The battle ended, everything possible was done by 
the victors to rescue survivors of the enemy ships. 
Men and officers alike worked manfully in this duty. 
In the case of the " Vizcaya," for example, thirty 
officers and two hundred and seventy-two men were 
rescued, some of them at the risk of life by the rescuers, 
while all were fed, clothed and cared for by their 
American hosts. One touching incident of the battle is 
related of Captain Philip, of the " Texas," who rebuked 
his men for cheering at the Spanish surrender with 
the following words : 

" Don't cheer, boys ; the poor devils are dying." 
The gunboat " Gloucester " rescued Admiral Cer- 
vera, who had swum ashore from his wrecked ship 
with the aid of his son. He was nearly naked when 
rescued and was supplied with clothing by Commander 
Wainwright, of the " Gloucester," who delivered him 
to the " Iowa." He was received by Captain Evans with 
a full admiral's guard, who cheered him vociferously. 
They had not forgotten his generous treatment of Lieu- 
tenant Hobson after the sinking of the " Merrimac," 
which opened for him a warm place in every American 
heart. 



VICE-ADMIRAL SIMS AND THE AMERICAN 
NAVY IN THE WORLD WAR 

While the American army under General Pershing 
was actively at work fighting the German hordes in 
the World War, the navy was as vigorously engaged 
under Admiral William S. Sims in a different field of 
operations, that against the German fleet of sub- 
marines, guarding from these destructive craft the 
transports that carried across the seas the growing 
army of young American soldiers. Sims held in the 
navy a position paralleling that of Pershing in the 
army, all the operations of the navy in European waters 
being placed under his control. As we have dealt with 
the work of Pershing as a hero of the American army, 
we have here to deal with that of Vice-Admiral Sims 
in the naval field of operations. 

This highly capable commander, while of Canadian 
origin, his birthplace being Port Hope, Canada, its date 
1858, spent his mature life in the naval service of 
the United States, graduating at the Naval Academy 
at Annapolis in 1880 and passing successively through 
all grades of the service in his later life. Reaching the 
rank of commander in 1907, he was made captain in 
1911, rear-admiral on January 5, 191 7, and vice-admiral 
on May 28 of the same year. He thus attained for 
the time the highest rank in the American navy except 
that of admiral, a supreme grade which had been held 
by only three of our naval heroes, these embracing 
Farragut, Porter and Dewey, 
334 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 335 

Within the period covered by these promotions Sims 
was occupied in various duties, some of them pf much 
importance. Thus he was inspector of target practice 
in the Bureau of Navigation, 1902-09, naval aide to 
the President, 1907-09, and naval attache to the Amer- 
ican embassies at Paris and St. Petersburg between 
1897 and 1906. He served at intervals on the North 
Atlantic, Pacific and China stations, commanded the 
battleship '* Minnesota," 1909-14, was a member of 
the Naval War College, 1911-12, and after the latter 
year commanded the Atlantic torpedoboat flotilla. 

These varied naval duties went far to fit Sims for 
the important service he was at a later date called upon 
to perform. His career in the navy, in fact, was one 
of brilliant achievement, while as a naval attache at 
the embassies mentioned he had an excellent oppor- 
tunity to gain an acquaintance with European naval 
conditions, and his later association with the art of 
gunnery fitted him admirably for the work he was soon 
to be called upon to perform. The high American 
record for marksmanship, due largely to him, is sur- 
passed by that of no other navy in the world. 

Before the world war began Sims put himself on 
record as to the racial relations between Great Britain 
and the United States by openly saying that, in his 
opinion, blood was thicker than water, and that if the 
need should at any time arise the; navies of these two 
nations would be found in brotherly co-operation. An 
indiscreet remark, no doubt ; one that won approbation 
in England and the opposite feeling in Germany and for 
a time embarrassed the diplomatic situation at Wash- 
ington. Yet the truthfulness of his undiplomatic utter- 
ance was to become apparent after the lapse of a few 
more years and has now grown very widely evident. 



336 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

We find this feeling of the close affinity between the 
two powers cropping out on an occasion during the 
war, when the British commander of naval operations 
in the Irish waters was obliged to leave his post for a 
period ; since Admiral Sims was asked by the British 
Admiralty to command this force in association with 
his other duties until the British commander would 
be able to return. 

As for the view held by the American Navy Depart- 
ment concerning Admiral Sims, it may be judged by 
the fact that he was selected, when the coming of war 
appeared inevitable, as an agent of the department to be 
sent abroad to get in touch with the naval authorities 
of England and France and discuss with them the best 
methods of combining their warships efi^ectively. 
This was a secret mission, its purpose not divulged 
until after the declaration of war. Somewhat later, 
when the decisive step of declaring war on Germany- 
had been taken, Sims was raised to the temporary rank 
of vice-admiral and put in command of all the Amer- 
ican naval forces operating in European waters. 

There could have been no better choice. Sims was 
admirably fitted by his expert experience to consult with 
and advise the British and French naval authorities 
and suggest the best means of dealing with the mur- 
derous onslaught of the German submarines. It was 
a new type of warfare that now lay before these 
authorities, not one of cruisers and dreadnoughts fight- 
ing as of old on the ocean's surface, but one of combat 
between surface and undersea craft, a new variety of 
oceanic warfare which had never before been known to 
any important extent. Fortunately it was one which 
Sims was amply fitted to perform, from his familiarity 
with torpedoboat practice and expert marksmanship, 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 337 

he being, so tar as appears, the best-trained man in 
this new field of warfare in the service of the mari- 
time nations. 

A few weeks after the declaration of war on the part 
of the United States against Germany a squadron of 
destroyers, torpedo-boats, converted yachts and other 
small craft, under Sims's command, crossed the 
Atlantic to co-operate with the British patrol fleet. 
Here they were heartily welcomed, and when asked how 
soon they could be made ready for service the reply 
was to this effect : 

" We are ready now. To-day, if necessary." 

Examination proved that this was no empty boast. 
They were quite ready and were quickly afloat in 
actual service. The first gun-shot on the part of the 
United States in this war was fired on April 19, 191 7, 
by the gun-crew of the " Mongolia " at a submarine, 
scoring a clean hit at a 1 000-yard range. 

This indicated the character of the naval war thus 
opened, an offensive one on the part of the Anglo- 
Saxon allies against the death-dealing and destructive 
submarines of Germany ; a defensive one in protection 
of the American transports, supply ships and merchant 
ships from the under-water craft of the Germans. As 
the latter had no other type of naval vessels actively 
engaged in the oceanic waters, the naval warfare 
between the nations concerned was mainly confined to 
the two kinds of vessels, mentioned. 

Never before had a nation's fleet dealt with such an 
antagonist or so novel a contest been fought upon the 
seas. It was a war, in a measure, conducted below the 
ocean level, in the native region of the shark and the 
whale. Man-built sharks darted up from the ocean 
depths to attack and plunged down again when their 
22 



338 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

deadly work had been done or their antagonists had 
proved capable of self-defense. Such was the type of 
adversaries with 'which the merchant ships of America 
and Europe had now to deal, that of the deadly sub- 
marines, a kind of fighting craft that needed a special 
variety of war vessel to deal with it. And this was 
ready in the destroyer, the torpedoboat, submarine 
chaser and other varieties of light cruisers. Fortunately 
the United States proved to be very well provided with 
this class of anti-sharks, and in Admiral Sims it pos- 
sessed a son of the wave well fitted to effectively handle 
them against their lurking and pitiless foe. 

In the summer of 191 7 the submarine problem grew 
acute. Many merchant ships had been sunk, with their 
valuable cargoes, and at times with all or part of their 
crews, to the ocean bottom. New ships were being 
built with all possible rapidity, but the carrying capacity 
of the maritime nations was diminishing at an alarming 
rate, and unless some effective counterplay could be 
devised Gei-many's triumph in this direction began to 
appear inevitable. 

The convoy formed this counterplay. While mer- 
chant vessels had been armed and in some cases proved 
capable of sending their foes to the depths, a system of 
protective convoying was quickly adopted and rapidly 
developed under the orders of the alert Sims. As a 
result, the tide of battle began to turn, while many of 
the Kaiser's sharks of the deeps failed to regain the 
ports from which they had set out on their mission of 
death and terror. 

In the later period of the war the convoy system 
grew highly effective. The transports and fleets of 
commerce were surrounded on all sides by swift and 
well-armed fighting craft, so alert that the submarines 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 339 

no longer dared to cross these protecting lin^s in search 
of their prey. Nor was the device of plunging out of 
sight any longer fully available. The " depth bomb," a 
new and terror-inspiring device, adapted to explode 
at fixed depths below the surface, had been invented, 
and the plunge of the submarine to the depths was no 
longer as of old an assurance of safety. A useful 
listening device also aided in locating the hidden enemy. 
Thus the terror of the deep at times failed to find a 
safe hiding-place in its old harbor of refuge, and before 
the war ended the submarines had begun to decrease 
rapidly in number, and the sea was gradually ceasing 
to be a region of maritime loss. 

During July and August, 19 18, for example, the fleets 
of shipping to and from France escorted by American 
convoys were estimated at the large total of 3,444,612 
tons, and of this only 45,000 tons were lost — a very 
large reduction from that of the earlier period. Within 
the same months 259,604 American troops were taken 
across the ocean without the loss of a single life. The 
total number carried across during the whole war was 
more than 2,000,000, and this almost without loss of life 
through German attack. So far as their attempt to pre- 
vent the carriage of the American army across the 
ocean, therefore, was concerned, the German submarine 
campaign was practically an utter failure. This was not 
the case with the raid on merchant ships, though even in 
these the loss steadily declined and was becoming negli- 
gible before the war ended. 

To prevent such loss every conceivable defense likely 
to be of use was employed. Merchant vessels were 
armed and supplied with tramed gunners, and often did 
not wait for the convoys. Also methods were adopted 
to produce a dense cloud of smoke, and in this way 



340 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

screen vessels from sight when threatened by sub- 
marines. Various systems of counter-attack were 
employed. Depth bombs were dropped from vessels 
and from aeroplanes in waters into which submarines 
had sunk, these at times proving destructive. Nets of 
steel wire were sunk in submarine pathways, these also 
winning game from the foe. Mines were planted across 
the ocean width between Scotland and Norway and 
between Dover and the coast of France. A large fleet 
of submarine chasers — small wooden boats of high 
speed — was launched and took ample toll from the 
enemy. These and other expedients were adopted to 
such an extent that in the end the use of submarines 
rapidly grew much more costly than was bargained for 
by their builders. Taken for all in all, the commerce- 
sinking crusade was fast losing its usefulness when the 
war came to an end. 

" You doubtless know," wrote Admiral Sims to the 
Secretary of the Navy, "that all of the Allies here 
with whom I am associated are very much impressed 
by the efforts now being made by the United States 
Navy Department to oppose the submarine and protect 
merchant shipping. I am very glad to report that our 
forces are more than coming up to expectations." 

This was more modest than the facts warranted. 
British naval experts did not hesitate to use more 
flattering language. Thus, Sir Eric Geddes, first lord 
of the British Admiralty, wrote : 

"As you know, we all of us here have great admira- 
tion for your officers and men and for the splendid 
help they are giving in European waters. Further, 
we find Admiral Sims invaluable in counsel and in 
co-operation." 

Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, first sea lord of the 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 341 

British naval service, gives similar praise to Admiral 
Sim.s and his officers, and others might be quoted in 
praise of the active head of the American naval service 
in the war. It must in this respect suffice to say, in 
the words of the old-time proverb, that " Good wine 
needs no bush." 

The close of the war reduced Sims in rank, hig 
grade of vice-admiral being a temporary one, and that 
of rear-admiral restored. As such he reached New 
York from his field of duty on April 7, 191 9, as a pas- 
senger on the steamship " Mauretania," this vessel 
being, in compliment to its notable passenger, escorted 
into port by a squadron of destroyers and other vessels 
of his late command and by a bird-like flight of aero- 
planes in the upper air. We may quote from his words 
on entering port to the effect that " the convoy beat the 
Huns. It formed an ocean bridge for the safe passage 
of transports and supply ships. The depth charge and 
the listening devices contributed to the result, and much 
was due to the merchant seamen, who took their ships 
across, convoy or no convoy. But above all the convoy 
came in as the winning feature of the ocean warfare." 



NAVIES OF THE UNDER SEA AND THE 
UPPER AIR 

The historians of the past, when speaking of ocean 
warfare, dealt with the ships that sailed upon the 
ocean's surface, and which, when owned and used by 
the various nations, were given the name of navies. 
But within recent years, especially since the advent of 
the twentieth century, as stated in the preceding sketch, 
new types of national ships have come into existence, 
one of these, the submarine, making the waters of the 
ocean below the surface its habitat; the other, the 
aeroplane, or air-ship, using the atmosphere for its 
native place of navigation. Both of these took so 
deadly and destructive a part in the great European war 
that something further must be said about the " reign 
of terror " to which they gave rise. 

First of all, their history comes into play as a matter 
of interest and importance. The air-ship is of very 
recent origin, as it came into use after the advent of 
the twentieth century; in one of its phases, the Zep- 
pelin, as a development of the floating balloon of a cen- 
tury and more past ; in another phase, that of the aero- 
plane, as an entirely new invention. The submarine 
has a much longer history. We hear of a boat of this 
character as far back as the early years of the seven- 
teenth century, the conception of a Hollander named 
Drebell. This was propelled by oars and carried twelve 
rowers in addition to its passengers. Drebell professed 
to use a liquid which would keep the air in a state fit 
for breathing, but the nature of this liquid was not 
342 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 343 

revealed. In later years other submarine boats were 
from time to time constructed, but not with any impor- 
tant success. The first used for war purposes was 
of American origin, being built by David Bushnell, of 
Connecticut. It was of one-man capacity, its builder 
driving it by means of a screw and being able to steer 
it and cause it to rise or descend in the water. This 
had a speed of two or three knots. The inventor sought 
to blow up with it a British man-of-war ofif New 
London, by attaching to its bottom a sort of torpedo, 
but the copper sheathing of the ship prevented his 
fastening it to the ship's bottom and the effort failed. 

Robert Fulton, the steamboat inventor, was the next 
in this field, about the beginning of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. He built several submarines, the last of these 
being 80^ feet long, and driven by a steam engine. 
He used compressed air for respiration, and was able 
to remain under water for four hours, at a depth of 
25 feet. The second use of a submarine for war pur- 
poses was made during the American civil "war, by the 
Confederates at Charleston, in 1863. Four efforts were 
made to sink a government vessel by this means, the 
last being successful in sinking the " Housatonic," 
though the submarine went down with its prey. Other 
" Davids " — as these boats were named, from their 
inventor — were built, but no further success was 
attained. The building of submarines of increasing 
powers of performance went on at intervals during the 
remainder of the century, the most successful of these 
being those of John P. Holland and Simon Lake, Amer- 
ican inventors. The United States government adopted 
the Holland type of boat as useful for naval purposes 
and in 1904 had eight Holland submarines in its navy. 

As the years moved on the submarine boats increased 



344 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

in size and efficiency, both in America and Europe, 
until boats of this character became recognized as an 
essential element of a national navy. In 191 5, after the 
beginning of the European war, this was especially the 
case with Germany, which used them very effectively 
against the merchant ships of Great Britain and her 
allies. The boats of this date were powerful craft, 
with Diesel engines capable of developing from 1200 to 
6500 horsepower and with surface speeds of 18 to 24 
knots and a travelling radius approaching 3000 miles. 
The German submarine fleet, having the large British 
merchant fleet to deal with, proved highly destructive, 
sinking a large number of vessels, not infrequently 
with their crews in whole or part. The most atrocious 
act committed in this merciless warfare was the sink- 
ing, on May 7, 191 5, of the Cunard liner " Lu^itania" 
with over 2000 persons on board, passengers and crew. 
Of these more than iioo were drowned, men, women 
and children, more than a hundred of them Americans. 
It was the expectation of the German military 
authorities to sink the British merchant ships faster 
than new ones could be built, and in this way fatally 
to reduce Great Britain's carrying capacity. This was 
accomplished in a degree. Thus in 1917 the ships 
sunk were more than double in tonnage the new ones 
produced. But this deadly crusade led to a conclusion 
fatal to Germany. In various cases, aside from that 
of the " Lusitania," Americans lost their lives, the 
Teutons growing so heedless of the rights and protests 
of neutrals that the great American republic in the end 
declared war against the Teutonic foe. This, whatever 
its aim, proved fatal to Germany, since it brought a 
new and powerful enemy into the field. In this sense 
the submarine warfare may be held as the agent leading 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 345 

to the downfall of Germany, since without the Amer- 
ican aid it is doubtful if the Teutonic power could have 
been overcome. 

While the submarine was thus making the depths 
of the ocean a haunt of death and terror, the air-ship 
was doing a similar work of destruction from the 
upper air, dropping death-dealing bombs in the streets 
oT great cities, such as London and Paris. Some 
account of the development of the latter, therefore, 
comes here in place. We have spoken of the wide- 
wandering balloon, which traverses the air at the mercy 
of the winds and was long the only method of air 
travel. It was not brought into the field of the air-ship 
until after the advent of the twentieth century, when 
engine power was used to drive the gas receptacles 
through the air. Of those engaged in this, many in 
number, we may especially name the Count von Zep- 
pelin, a German aviator, whose efforts culminated in 
1 910 in an enormous air-ship, or dirigible balloon, 485 
feet long and 46 feet wide, which was driven by three 
powerful motors aggregating 330 horsepower. Lines of 
these Zeppelins were later used for passenger service in 
Germany. After the outbreak of war flying machines 
of this type were used for warlike purposes by the 
Germans, much destruction of life and property being 
caused by them in France and England. 

While in this way great and powerful air-ships were 
produced and adapted to warlike purposes in Germany 
and to some extent in other countries, elsewhere, and 
especially in the United States, quite a new type of 
flying machine was being developed, one needing no 
gas bag for support in the air, but kept afloat solely 
*by the driving power of its engines. This work of 
invention began in the closing years of the nineteenth 



346 HEROES OF THE NAVY 

century, interesting experiments being made by Otto 
Lilienthal, Hiram S. Maxim and Samuel P. Langley, 
the last two Americans. The final and successful 
attempt was due to two brothers, Orville and Wilbur 
Wright, of Dayton, Ohio, who began their experiments 
in 1900 and kept them up for a number of years. 
Seeking a desolate sandy plain at Kitty Hawk, North 
Carolina, they carried on their experiments in secret, 
the first actual flight being in September, 1902, when 
the crude gliding machine they had developed kept 
afloat for two minutes. This success was gradually 
increased, but it was not until 1908 that they made a 
public demonstration of the results of their extended 
experiments, when on September 10 Orville Wright 
ascended at Fort Meyer, near Washington, and 
remained aloft for 62 minutes. By this time many 
other inventors were at work in the same field of effort, 
the most notable early achievement being the crossing 
of the English Channel by Jean Bleriot in July, 1909. 
In the following year Glenn H. Curtiss made a flight 
from Albany to New York, a distance of 150 miles. 

Three types of machines were developed, the mono- 
plane, biplane and triplane, and with increase in size 
and driving power much greater distances were 
achieved. In the early part of 1914, before the out- 
break of war, a record for flight without stopping of 
over i6| hours was made and one of the carrying of 
16 passengers with a weight of 2882 pounds. Shortly 
after these records the European war began, and an 
important use of the aeroplane in this conflict was soon 
developed. For the first time in history war extended 
from the surface of the sea to the ocean depths and from 
the ground to the upper air; the air-ships being at first 
used for scouting and bomb-dropping purposes, while 



HEROES OF THE NAVY 347 

soon In the air itself numerous battles between hostile 
machines took place, singly and in flying squadrons. 
The close of the war opened new fields for the develop- 
ment of the aeroplane, the first of these being that of 
mail carriage between large cities at speeds which the 
rail service could not hope to equal. As for distant 
travel, aeroplane traffic promises to surpass in speed 
the existing means of travel, the width of the oceans 
failing to check the daring flights of the aviators, while 
as a means of passenger and freight carriage remark- 
able and unforeseen development seems sure to take 
place. In May, 1919, an important victory in this direc- 
tion was attained, the Atlantic Ocean being crossed 
by an air-ship, though it took advantage of New- 
foundland and the Azores as stopping places. It 
had, however, become evidently only a question of 
time when this feat would be performed without 
the need of stopping places. 



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